About Sustainability: Food in the City
The Eyebeam Sustainability Research Group - Food in the City is comprised of individuals from within the Eyebeam family as well as creative practioners from in around New York City. The immediate goal is to propose a better understanding of what our Food System IS rather than what is WAS or COULD BE.
The motivations include:
•Reclamation of the term "sustainable" from mainstream media and corporate culture outlets where it's been exploited, diminished and twisted far away from its original definition and intention.
•Widening of the discussion of our Food Systems to include environmental issues such as fracking, water sources, soil contamination, global warming, Superfund sites, animal cruelty and labor (immigrant) exploitation.
•Inclusion of artists, designers, technologists, scientists, biologists, engineers, farmers, food producers, journalists and academics to broaden the discourse and hopefully move toward some valuable and applicable models of discussion and action in a variety of different forms.
•Development of new terms and platforms that help to negotiate, explain and improve upon our very fucked up Food System and all the attendant problems that branch out from it. But also to widen the dialogue to include people beyond those who are privileged and in the "know" and can't afford the time or the money it takes to negotiate this incredibly obfuscated, misleading and confusing landscape.
Possible Outcomes:
•An unconference that demonstrates the kind of work (both scholarly and practice based) that is already being done by members of the group as well as research group outcomes.
•Workshop models that can be taken "on the road" as a way of testing out the research outcomes of the group. Use the workshop models as a continuing legacy for the group to maintain a presence as well as keep the dialogue current and "alive".
•An exhibition that explicitly addresses these issues in an innovative and non-mimetic fashion.
Plan of Action:
•Meetings every three weeks to initially carve out the group of committed individuals, determine specific goals, devise a schedule and appointment of duties to fulfill the goals in the most timely and efficient manner possible.
•Commit to a shared, ongoing reading list of articles and / or essays that will inform and inspire the meetings as well as form the explicit and articulated goals of the group.
Membership Policy: This group has moderated membership. You can request membership using the menu to the right, but this request must be approved by a group administrator.