Water is life. Water is plastic. We are water. We are plastic… How would water taste like if it was made of plastic? If the water is filling up with plastic, are we not becoming that too? Come to our extraordinary Food Art event to taste the real problems (through our edible food art creations), while learning about solutions (by Zero Waste principles)!
The artwork consists of the (1) composition of dead dried fish; (2) agar-agar gels representing sea water that we artificially polluted; and (3) one of the most prevalent wastes, plastic. Water is polluted around the world, and it is far away from its original, pure quality. The artists use an artificial gel instead of real water to emphasize its less natural and man-made current form. The dead and dried fish represent the once healthy living creatures who are now suffering and bear the burden of human pollution and ignorance. Plastic waste will be represented in its original form.
“We believe that the water pollution problem can only be solved if we approach it in a complex, interconnected manner. The waste itself is a human product, and the solution itself can only be provided using active human intervention.”
That is why the artists decided to make people meet the 5R principles (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot), from the “zero waste bible” Bea Johnson’s book: Zero Waste Home. They consider zero waste as a fundamental approach to a more sustainable present and future, and Bea Johnson is a true hero leading the way with practical advice on how to reduce our ecological footprint and be more responsible citizens for a more fair, healthy, and just world.
Exhibition installation
To reinforce the idea of water made of plastic, the artist will serve the agar-agar fish food creation from sinks. Everything around and on top of them will be edible, including the soap, the sponge, the toothpaste, the toothbrush, the gel and the fish as well.
There will be 5 sinks fastened to a wall. The artists will fix a mirror above each, with the text of the 5R principles of Zero Waste: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot, explained one by one. This way, the viewer fill face both the problem and the solution at the same time.
“We want to send the message that we are each responsible for our future. As the book, ‘Zero Waste Home’ is currently being translated and the book will be launched this year by the author herself, we are in the process of inviting Bea Johnson, the author to our event. She has preliminarily accepted the invitation, and if her schedule allows, she would be part of the launch of the exhibition to talk about her journey and lessons learnt with Zero Waste.” Kata Molnár & Enikő Hodosy
At the edible food event, everything will be edible. Therefore, visitors will not only walk away with the images of an interesting expo and ideas, but they can also collect hands-on experiences by touching, smelling, and tasting the food we display. We expect that this is going to engage visitors more, and also ensure that our strong messages and perhaps shocking installation will be remembered because they not only mobilize visitors’ intellectually but also through their sensations.
Given the fact that the water quality is declining by the extreme pollution often caused by plastic waste, we want to represent this problem by connecting this issue with the food. Without water food production would be impossible, and if its quality and quantity are not appropriate to feed us and keep the ecosystem in balance, as the dried fish in the sink – everything would be dead. So our food art represents the whole idea of interconnectedness across the food chain necessary for maintaining life.
We plan to organize 3 in 1:
- Food Art exhibition + Public talk + Book promotion
Food Art event: we plan to create edible, food-art products to emphasize the fluid border between waste and consumed foods
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Public talk and book promotion: Emphasizing the importance of the solutions side of the issue, Bea Johnson speaker, blogger, activist, author of Zero Waste Home is invited to the exhibition to give a presentation.
We applied with our project, as an artist duo: Zsuzsi Matók (Nedill) and Enikő Hodosy. Zsuzsi is a food artist, and Enikő is a photographer also, who is managing the project, and Kata Molnár is supporting the artists as a sustainability and water expert.
Biography – Zsuzsi Matók
Zsuzsi Matók is a Hungarian artist and food designer, based in Budapest, Hungary. Se has a degree in Social Work BA and Cultural Anthropology MA from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE).
She is the founder of food art and design brand, called Nedill – dating back to 2013, and she is working as a food designer since 2010. Basically she works on concept-art projects with other artists. She has had many food art and design projects in connection with Earth and nature. Her latest project called: BLOOM – Where life is born was presented on Budapest Design Week. In 2016 with her project Near Earth Asteroids, she was nominated on the Highlights of Hungary Award.
Besides she is working as a food stylist in movies and commercials like mentioning some of them: Blade runner 2049, The Alienist and The Borgias – S04.
Zsuzsi is approaching the world of edible objects in a special, experimental way. She likes to experiment with new ingredients, and use edible materials to turn them into artworks, in an extraordinary way. Sometimes her almost mind-bending creations introduce food outside of the terms of gastronomy. Her aim is creating objects that have got special messages and are “alive” in a special way. She creates special concepts of food and craft, that are aesthetically far away from anything that we thought about food before. With the help of colors, structures, kitchen technology and, of course, flavors, new experiments are being carried out, to the results of which are presented to the public through a thematic exhibition.
Biography – Enikő Hodosy
After receiving her BA degree, she continued her studies in a Masters course at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest.
She spent a semester at École de Recherche Graphique, Brussels with the Erasmus exchange program. During her MA program, she spent a year in Paris with Erasmus Internship, working in the field of luxury photography. She obtained her MA diploma in photography in 2016, with distinction.
In the last few years, her works have appeared in several exhibitions such as Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art “XY – MOME Generation – Human Dignity”, the Hungarian House of Photography, and the Vienna and Berlin Photo Book Festival. Since 2012, she is a member of the Studio of Young Photographers. In 2014 she won a grant to organize her first solo exhibition called “Bleu”, which took place in the Project Room of Várfok Gallery. In 2013 she was selected into the top 100 of the Google Photography Prize. In 2015 her series „Projections” was shortlisted at the 5th World Biennial of Student Photography, Novi Sad.
Her main interest lies in the connections between the human mind, body and soul; and also in the introduction of social problems and brutality through an ethereal atmosphere.
Biography – Kata Molnár
Kata Molnár graduated from Lund University (2014) with an MSc in International Development and Management, during which she spent half year conducting research on the Nile river and agricultural investments in Ethiopia. She obtained her BA degree at Eötvös Lóránd University (2010) in Media and Communication.
She is currently consulting think tanks and governments with a focus on water security, diplomacy and sustainability, and translating Bea Johnson’s book Zero Waste Home into Hungarian that will be published in spring 2018.
Kata has five years of experience working with global water policy and research organizations focusing on agriculture, climate change, transboundary water governance in Europe, the Middle East, and Eastern Africa. She worked at the World Water Forum in South Korea (2015) and Brazil (2018), and co-facilitated high-level political processes at key climate conferences (COP21, COP22) to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement. As a consultant for the Stockholm International Water Institute, she authored a paper on the connections between water diplomacy and foreign policy for German Foreign Office, and also contributed to the development of a methodology for a global assessment program on rivers. She is enthusiastic about motivating the future generation, and become an UNLEASH talent, an innovation program curating solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals global framework launched by the UN member states in 2015. She has lived in six countries including Denmark, Indonesia, Sweden, Ethiopia, France and Hungary.