20 May 2016

Open Call Summer Workshop: Ecology of Production

Open Call
Ecology of Production:
A summer workshop focusing on the community economics of food

Dates: 30. June - 2. July
Aarhus, Denmark

Space: Exchange Library
Studsgade 46
DK-8000 Aarhus C

The Ecology of Production Summer Workshop focuses on community economics and food production. It is organized by Trade Test Site, a curatorial and publishing collaborative working on projects developing and discussing economies beyond capitalism. This workshop is part of our 'Ecology of Production' series about diversifying and expanding how we produce and share good, services, and ultimately our lived realities. For this workshop we ask ourselves: How alternative economic practices are performed in communal food production? How can we better use our natural resources? How can gathering around food create communities of empathy needed to build up other economic realities?

Workshop program and leaders:
We have invited a selection of speakers and food focused activities.
Åsa Sonjasdotter(SE) and Marco Clausen(DE) talk about the Neighborhood Academy in Prinzessenstrasse, Berlin. The Neighborhood Academy is in Prinzessinnengarten, is an urban garden and a self-organized open platform for urban and rural knowledge sharing, cultural practice, and activism. The Neighborhood Academy draws on processes that determine our everyday life as well as the coexistence of plants, people and animals. It opens a space for the questions: How can we learn from each other in ways that relate to the world and engage in and with it? Can this be done through methods that are similar to the approach of a gardener – that are caring for and nurturing life processes? How can the work we do in our neighbourhoods also help us understand relations in larger and more complex contexts? How can we cooperate with initiatives in communities, other cities and rural areas in ways that influence these contexts?
Åsa Sonjasdotter will help facilitate discussions throughout the gathering.

Kate Rich (UK) walks us through her project Feral Trade and the products traded in this project will be available in Exchange Library Café open for the public during the summer camp. A Café run on exchange of home produced food such as bread, butter, and jam.

Pieta Hyväninen (FI) is informed by the intersection between feminism and environmentalism. In her research, she is occupied by rethinking economies in small-scale communal food production. Currently, her thesis focuses on a framework of diverse economies to find out how alternative economic practices are performed in communal food production. She is a member of CERN (Community Economics Research Network).

Dinner arrangements and food events:
Sharing meals and sharing food preparation are an important of facilitating discussion during this gathering. We have invited artists using food and food politics in their work to present their projects as part of the community meal times during the gathering.

Zeenath Hasan (SE) from Tapori Tiffins (taporitiffins.se)
Zeenath Hasan involves herself in the people centered practice of design research to potentialize media technologies for socially appropriate intervention. She was born in Kolkata and currently resides in Malmö. She has trained in the MS Communications program at Manipal, Karnataka and in the MA New Media Studies program at the University of Art and Design Helsinki. She has worn the labels of Information Architect, Interface Designer, Design Researcher, Cultural Producer, and Media Artist and Researcher. Her current project is Tapoori Tiffins–an ecological, vegan, kitchen that provides local sourced artisanal foods relying on slow cooking techniques. Hasan started the self-financed, collaborative initiative to explore alternative models of sustainable food production and distribution. She previously worked with Trade Test Site on the Hidden Economies Seminar (www.hiddeneconomies.net).

Project Cafe(UK)
Project Cafe is a Glasgow based platform for creative and social exchange. In Glasgow they make their food from scratch with careful consideration of chosen ingredients. Their cafe hosts an independent poetry bookshop and a creative table. At their heart, they are a social enterprise, which means they aim to provide a community platform via the success and profits of the cafe. More information can be found here: theprojectcafe.weebly.com

Book launch:
As part of the workshop, Trade Test Site will launch its first series of booklets entitled 'Your Money or Your Life – on feminist economics #1-4.
These 4 small booklets contains texts in Danish and English by Catherine Gibson, Kathrin Böhm, Kathi Weeks and Kate Rich.

Field Trip:
We are planning a field trip to Friland, a ecological community in Feldballe - Djursland. We will learn about this community's work establishing small businesses and industries (www.friland.org).

Application Process:
There is no fee for participation. You are responsible for travel and accommodation. We are able to recommend affordable accommodations. Please write a brief description of why you would like to attend and email it to: liseskou@gmail.com.
Application deadline June 1th.
We will be replying with acceptance by 9th of June, 2016.

Organized by Trade Test Site / Bonnie Fortune and Lise Skou

TRADE TEST SITE:
Trade Test Site is a frame for programming and publishing focussed on themes of economy as they relate to the end of Capitalism; feminist issues in economics; and creating economies beyond capitalism that are sustainable, equitable, and promote social and environmental justice. See more at www.tradetestsite.com