SENSING RESONANCE

Art & Science cooperation 
CircEUlar project x Klima Biennale Wien
Curated by Nora Mayr

"Many of us are aware that our dietary choices and consumption habits directly impact the climate and biodiversity. In recent years, numerous research reports have honed in on the relationship between global ecological impacts and a sustainable and healthy food system also in Vienna. These reports encompass analyses of global land use related to consumption trends via complex supply chains, for example a spatially explicit assessment of the regional to global impacts of Viennese biomass consumption. Engaging with this research, Imayna Caceres involves her artistic interest in sensory-based forms of knowledge and counter-narratives of symbiotic worlds, in order to develop her own examination of biodiversity and food consumption in Vienna in the form of a lecture performance, recipes for lesser planetary damage, seed drawings and so-called “offerings”. In her works, Caceres outlines practices of acknowledging the earth-beings that make our existence possible and proposes new forms of narratives around our relationship with food."— Nora Mayr.

As part of the project I had the chance to interview several scientists from the Institut für Soziale Ökologie (SEC) from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). I interviewed Lisa Kaufmann and Helmut Haberl, and I met Sarah Matej and Dominik Wiedenhofer, all of whom are working on the topic of Dietary change and a regenerative approach to agriculture and forestry to address the climate and biodiversity crisis. And approach that can be seen in the four papers shared belowd.

In talking to Haberl and Kaufmann I was exposed to the idea that we can’t live without having in mind the balance between biomass or the amount of life that already exists and what we make anew. And learning this I couldn’t help to visualize how we live in a dance between biomass and human-made matter. Amongst lands and waters that move and breathe and which collide against stocks, non-porous matter, floors made of concrete and asphalt, so we can walk and move easily from point a to point b, concrete buildings, metals, plastics, oils, and more. But that hinders f.e. the easy flow of water. Getting to know about their research was deeply transformative for my ongoing reflections on vital knowledges. Specially to learn that there is actual data that supports that although structural changes are need, that changing how we eat does have an effect on climate change.
 
Dietary change and a regenerative approach to agriculture and forestry to address the climate and biodiversity crisis

Lauk et al. „Demand Side Options to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Land Footprint of Urban Food Systems: A Scenario Analysis for the City of Vienna“. Journal of Cleaner Production 359 (20. Juli 2022): 132064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132064.
Authors: Christian Lauk, Lisa Kaufmann, Michaela C. Theurl, Fritz Wittmann, Michael Eder, 
Stefan Hörtenhuber, Bernhard Freyer, Fridolin Krausmann.

Mayer et al. „Impacts of Scaling up Agroecology on the Sustainability of European Agriculture in 2050“. EuroChoices 21, Nr. 3 (2022): 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12373.
Authors: Andreas Mayer, Gerald Kalt, Lisa Kaufmann, Elin Röös, Adrian Muller, Rainer Weisshaidinger, Anita Frehner, Nicolas Roux, Pete Smith, Michaela C. Theurl, Sarah Matej, Karlheinz Erb.

Cifuentes et al. „Diverse Types of Knowledge on a Plate: A Multi-Perspective and Multi-Method Approach for the Transformation of Urban Food Systems towards Sustainable Diets“. Sustainability Science, 10. Februar 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01287-9.
Authors: Marta López Cifuentes, Marianne Penker, Lisa Kaufmann, Fritz Wittmann, Valentin Fiala,Christina Gugerell, Christian Lauk, Fridolin Krausmann, Michael Eder & Bernhard Freyer

Semenchuk et al. „The Global Biodiversity Footprint of Urban Consumption: A Spatially Explicit Assessment for the City of Vienna“. Science of The Total Environment 861 (25. February 2023): 160576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160576.
Authors: Philipp Semenchuk, Gerald Kalt, Lisa Kaufmann, Thomas Kastner, Sarah Matej, Giorgio Bidoglio, Karl-Heinz Erb, Franz Essl, Helmut Haberl, Stefan Dullinger, Fridolin Krausmann.


"Recipes for Survival" by Imayna Caceres, is part of an artistic reaction to the scientific research
of all the authors listed above.