Now that we have achieved material abundance, our lives flow smoothly. Therefore, we are rarely worried about what to eat, wear, and where to live. Moreover, we live in an environment where food is easily available, so when it comes to food, we don't think about where it comes from. However, since humans began affecting the Earth's climate and ecosystem, the way we eat now is on the verge of disappearing. To cope with this crisis, it's necessary to think about what we will eat in the future. This SMT reporter will introduce the exhibition <FUTURE FOOD: The Worry Your Tongue> to help you think about meeting our food needs in the future.
Broaden your views about food
The exhibition explores how the dining table of mankind will change in the future, considering food loss and waste caused by environmental problems. In addition, it presents the problems that will arise if today's food culture continues unabatedly. From May 18 to December 31, the exhibition <FUTURE FOOD: The Worry Your Tongue> is being held and it introduces a new perspective on food by considering what humans will eat in the future. The various works indicate humans' future dining table and current problems, through media such as video, painting, and VR. Through this, we can experience future food in various ways.
The exhibition is being held at the 'Celine Park Gallery' in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu. To get to the gallery from SMWU, take the subway on line 4 from SMWU station bound for Seoul Station. Get off at Chungmuro Station and transfer to line 3 bound for Dongguk University Station. From there, pass through four stations to reach Apgujeong Station. Go out of exit 3 and walk for about five minutes until you reach the 'Love Art Hall' where you can find Celine Park Gallery on the fourth floor. It takes about 40 minutes in total. Reservations can be made through Naver or Interpark through the LinkTree site of Celine Park Gallery. Through Linktree, there are not only reservations but also YouTube clips with brief introductions to the exhibition or design talk on Celine Park Gallery YouTube channel.
New sustainable tasty life
Before viewing, a pack of mealworm snacks is offered with the ticket and a brochure to visitors. This mealworm snack is a collaboration between OMO, a future food company, and a professional pâtissier. Thus, the exhibition lets visitors taste future food with their tongue as well as their eyes. There are three sections: breakfast, lunch, and dinner where you can see future food with your eyes. Before entering the morning section, a three-minute video shows the tongue-moving motion and gives a brief overview of this exhibition, making visitors wonder what food the tongue will taste in the face of climate change or social problems. Based on this curiosity, this SMT reporter will introduce three works that express the sustainable tasty life in the future, each from the morning, lunch, and dinner sections.
First of all, Johanna Schmmer's <BIOPLASTIC FANTASTIC> in the morning section is a video media work that embodies future food culture based on the technology of synthesizing biological cells on plastic. Using this technology, biological devices were created that, when exposed to light, produce all the nutrients and energy sources that humans need. In this video, humans' intake of food in drinking liquid form is shown. Through this, human chewing behavior, which is necessary when eating food, becomes meaningless and implies that food can become a means simply for nutrition, not a factor that makes life enjoyable. In the lunch section, Kim Minsoo's <LIVING FOOD>, which presents lifelike dishes, catches the eye. Today we look for food that maximizes certain flavors using a variety of chemical condiments and ingredients and stimulates the tongue. Therefore, they are not only unhealthy but also might not be available in the future. For this reason, the artist virtually developed a dish that stimulates the tongue through actual movement instead of chemicals. Thus, it presents a new perspective that there is no stimulating seasoning in dishes, but that stimulating touch will be a factor that gives pleasure to future food cultures. Works on another factor that delights the future food culture can also be found in the evening section. With the work of Jeon Jinhyun, named <SENSORY STIMULI>, the artist showed the tableware of the future. What's unique about this tableware is that it looks like candy with an extended spoon and is shaped like a bump. Some spoons can maintain cold temperatures, so when used, they can maximize the sweetness without adding more sugar. These scientific principles show the interesting idea that sustainable food culture can help us prepare for a future food shortage. Therefore, these three works consider food by associating it with social problems and their effects.
Ratings: ★★★★☆
Through the exhibition, this SMT reporter could see the food in terms of sustainability. It is important to consider not only humanity's future food but also how humans can consume food in the future through new methods to deal with the problem of the food crisis. However, many works require detailed explanations, so it is recommended that visitors collate information on the works in advance. In addition, the theme of the exhibition was clear, but it tends to revolve around the analysis of the meaning of the work or the artist's intention. Nevertheless, it is interesting to view the artist-created imaginary works about the future dietary life, allowing visitors to think about how humans' dining table will change.
