On the occasion of the exhibition “How like a leaf I am,” Alexandra Baumgartner and Photoforum invite the transdisciplinary artist duo Aterraterra from Palermo to a special event.

Aterraterra explores wild and domesticated plants, examining the culturally defined boundary between “edible” and “inedible.” The Tasting Session offers a sensory deconstruction and analysis of a place, where guests reflect on the relationships between human and non-human life forms that arise through food.

During the three-day research phase, the Tasting Event will be developed in collaboration with Aterraterra. Biologist and freelance botanist Arnaud Pradervand (Etude Botanique), along with the collective of the transdisciplinary audio documentary project Seed Carriers (Anna Froelicher, Kim Schelbert, Matthias Lorimer, Alexandra Baumgartner), will accompany Aterraterra. The focus will be on exploring the diverse landscape of Biel and making the city “edible”.

Beyond the appreciation of the plant, the content of the events emphasises the importance of experimentation and stimulates our radical imagination with the aim of making our deeper connections to plants tangible. The selective transdisciplinary exchange of knowledge forms the basic framework for the playful and sensual interventions that transform theory into practice.

About Aterraterra

Founded in Palermo in 2020 by Fabio Aranzulla and Luca Cinquemani, Aterraterra is a duo working in a multidisciplinary way in the fields of agriculture, art and activism. Aterraterra’s research focuses on the study of sustainable and marginalised diets and questions the possibility of a critical agriculture and food culture that is aware of its anthropocentrism. Aterraterra’s artistic projects have addressed issues related to colonial pasts and the difficult legacy of crops, interspecific alliances, post-agrarian and post-linguistic perspectives, and the use of wild species as a form of sustainable food. They are interested in the ever-changing cultural boundary in relation to the concept of edibility.

Fabio Aranzulla is an artist, activist, researcher and farmer. He graduated in art history and sociology in Dresden in 2017 before studying photography and art at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. He has participated in various exhibitions in Germany and Italy.

Luca Cinquemani is a farmer, artist and philosopher. He studied between Palermo and Düsseldorf and obtained a doctorate in European Cultural Studies. He has published several essays and a book on the concept of the form of life in the philosophy of Giorgio Agamben.

To plan the tasting sign-up is required. Please register by sending us an email.

This event was made possible thanks to the kind support of Pro Helvetia, Migros Kulturprozent and Dr. Georg und Josi Guggenheim-Stiftung.