Food & Community Resilience

A British Council funded project, creating ‘Connections through Culture’

New Practice is supporting Studio LabTanya, based in Indonesia, on a research/art project focused on sustainable food systems in relation to community resilience. 

Studio LabTanya is researching this topic in Scotland, collaborating with innovative Glasgow-based organisations and initiatives that have explored and developed ways to address challenges around food access, sustainability, sovereignty, and preserving and generating new food cultures in urban settings.

About Labtanya

This project is part of a wider initiative called Connections through Culture, funded by the British Council to support cross-cultural learning. 

LabTanya will use their learnings from their stay in Scotland to inform projects they are working on back at home. Studio LabTanya is a design studio interested in how food can serve as a primary engagement tool to connect with and champion urban communities.

A little bit about the project

Labtanya’s research question for this project is: In a time of crisis, how will we cook and what will we eat? Their question explores 5 key themes, including:

  • Local resources - What edible diversity exists around us, and do we still possess the knowledge to identify and use it?

  • Farming and gardening - Our traditional agricultural wisdom once mirrored our understanding of the natural world. Now, how do we recalibrate these to survive a volatile climate?

  • Food culture and heritage- Do our current cultural practices support and celebrate local resources?

  • Spatial transformation- In urban spaces, how do we navigate the challenges of establishing local food sources?

  • Collective action- When food is viewed as a shared resource instead of a commodity, it calls for a change in mindset. What are the current challenges to collective action, and what existing strengths can we build upon to establish a different system?

Exhibition

Studio LabTanya will share their research findings, collated throughout their stay in Scotland, at an exhibition in the Glad Cafe on the weekend of the 19th-20th September

Public Workshop

Labtanya is hosting an immersive food and storytelling event on Sunday 13th September, supported by Soul Food Sisters. 

This is a public event and we invite you to come along! 

At this event, you will learn about and share thoughts on local food sovereignty, food security strategies, and resilient local food cultures while tasting food in a Madangan experience (a floor-seated eating arrangement where food is placed centrally and shared equally among participants). 

This session will be a cross-cultural dialogue between Jakarta and Glasgow approaches, providing a unique opportunity to learn from and exchange experiences on the themes that arise.

To sign up, please click the button below to see the event on Eventbrite which contains more detailed information:  

Sign up!