Category Archives: Alternative View

Alternative View, Scientific community, Water

Summaries from the Research Articles – “Water for Food” Vol. 2 Nr. 1 (Summer 2014)

Scholarly communication has evolved over the centuries as technology has made it easier to promote and discuss ideas. Printing has overtaken hand-written documents; edited journals have overtaken monographs; and international conferences have overtaken national gatherings. These blog posts follow in that same tradition — presenting ideas in a more accessible format, to a larger audience. We hope that these posts inform you of their author’s research findings and invite you to give your thoughts on the posts or the articles that inspired them. Please join with your comments in this forum.

Dr. David Zetland*

- Guest Editor in the Summary Section-
Assistant Professor, Economics
Leiden University College
The Netherlands

* Member of the Editorial Board, Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society

Alternative View

Art rises awareness of food overproduction

Exhibition Poster

A person seems to drown in sugar: 40 kilos of sugar comprise the average annual consumption of a person in Central Europe. The installation by Georges Wenger shows two outstretched arms in a mountain of sweet white, spilled by a shopping cart.

When is enough enough? The Rothushalle in Solothurn, Switzerland currently hosts an exhibition that tackles the concept of food as taken-for-granted. The title, Mahlzeit!(“Dinner Time!”), points towards ambiguities and absurdities in the production of food.

Adrian Bütikofer‘s abstract sculptures, for example, hint towards the symmetry of the well-fed and the hungry, two forms seem to bow in front of an empty bowl.

Curt Walter’s installation “public toilet” puts the pervesity of modern food scandals “on the brink between chemistry and sickness” on display.

The exhibition shows the works of nine artist, all in relation to food production. If you are in the vicinity of the Swiss Kanton Solothurn, you have the opportunity to visit the exhibition until April 7, 2013, the entry is free of charge. A catalogue of the exhibition is available, a leaflet can be downloaded here.