Food For Thought - Food gets people’s attention. That’s one reason public artists are using it effectively as an artistic medium. Food offers multisensory experiences for audiences, encouraging curiosity, questions, and delight. It also provides an intimate way for artists to learn about and address the needs of communities and sites. In the following pages you’ll read about the challenges artists face when they work with food, the various ways they’re using food to address social, political, and environmental issues, and ways audiences naturally come together around food-based projects to eat, experience, and think.
With world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, food is a major global issue. We’re faced with the failures of industrialized agriculture and declining health due to poor nutrition. At the same time, we’re seeing the flowering of farm-to-table initiatives and millions of Americans returning to backyard vegetable gardening.
In this issue of Public Art Review, we will explore how contemporary artists are creating innovative ways to invite the public to explore such food issues and how they affect politics, place, community, creativity, and sustainability. Food also provides an intimate way for artists to learn about and address the needs of communities and sites. "Food for Thought" presents the challenges artists face when they work with food, the various ways they’re using food to address social, political, and environmental issues, and ways audiences naturally come together around food-based projects to eat, experience, and think.
“Food for Thought” includes a new Shop Talk department, which looks at the latest trends in public policy, funding, and technology alongside conference reports, recent awards, and more. We've revamped our Books section to give you the latest on what others are publishing in the field, and Recent Projects (both U.S. and International) rounds out the issue.
