Night of the Arts: M/others M*lk (feat. 'hatha yoghurt')
15 August 2024
Bioart Society, Helsinki
15 August 2024
Bioart Society, Helsinki
The history of human cultures is made up of m/others milks that have shaped and continue to shape our bodies, our communities, our spiritual practices and our ecological worlds in important yet invisible ways. In the present day these practices, lifeways and the organisms with which they entangle us are under threat from industrialisation, colonial violence and racial capitalism.
During Night of the Arts, m/other's m*lk used the lens of fermentation techniques from global human-microbial cultures to explore contemporary concerns around production and consumption, in order to ask how we might live more sustainably, relationally and ethically with our food systems in the future. We tasted, listened and fermented these ideas alongside diverse processes of cultured milks (including vegan m*lks made from local grains). As part of the evenings activities people were invited into the thermophilic space of ‘hatha yoghurt’, where you they moved with, under and through micro-organismic symbiosis as a practice of ancestral worship. Collectively, we activated a living practice of micro-biosociality as a way to relate to and take responsibility for the organisms (human, microbial and spiritual) with whom we share worlds.
'Hatha yoghurt' is a collaboration with artist Riina Hannula and sound artist Panu Räisänen.
The evening also marked the launch of the Microbes Library, a project by Kaajal Modi that is exploring how we live with, and share, living microorganisms through everyday practice. Participants had the opportunity to submit their 'culture', and to borrow samples created by other visitors. Those who joined the library received a membership card, printing with 'living ink'
