Empathy Education: Non-Human and Human Season
2019
Tzuyu Chen
Chiao-wen Hsu
未來是否在寄託於海藻中? 工作營邀請孩子們通過沉浸式體驗來探索食物的未來:他們在這裡用海帶製作料理並推測未來的飲食習慣。 工作營利用換位思考教育去了解人與生態之間的和諧關係。透過想像 / 體驗 /共享，我們邀請新生代的孩童在成長過程中發揮想像力及創造性去探索符合季節性、永續性的飲食文化。
Seasons have an effect on how we live, they also determine which plants, trees and fruits to grow, their breeding period, and other changes in non-human activities. There are times when nature allows us–humans–to use and times when we must give back and take care, these patterns are what should regulate our food culture and consumption. Empathy Education is defined as the knowledge we get from the ability to share and/or experience in different levels and ways another being’s situation. Through it humans and non-humans will have a healthy relationship based on the understanding of each other’s life cycles, seasonal behaviours and habits.
We are living in times of change and within them cultural change. Our goal is to create a new food culture with different habits, for this we need to invite new generations to learn as they grow and build their customs. We hope these unfamiliar species, food ingredients, to become habitual and part of human’s consciousness in order to restore the biodiversity of the sea and land.
We are presenting three subjects as our first attempt for this movement: a “Seasonal Map” which visualises the local species’ growth and changes; “Sea Neighbours: Seaweed”, a children’s activity book that initiates children’s interests in local seaweed species through different interactions; and “Seaweed Diary: Future Snacks”, a cooking diary that documents our experiments with and reflections on cooking seaweed within a western context also encourages people to become part of the experience.
This project began and is based on the study of the area of Lysekil, Sweden during the course Design Practice in Social Context (Master Programme Contemporary Design at Aalto University).
Seaweed Kitchen: Future Snacks workshop with children
- 2019 ClimATE Exhibition -
Does the future lie in seaweed?
This workshop invites children to explore the future of food through immersive experiences: where they cook with seaweed and speculate on future diets. We aim to encourage children to understand human and non-human relationships in the context of seasonable, sustainable consumption.
Empathy Education concerns the knowledge and ability to share and/or experience, at different levels and in various ways, another being’s situation. We are living in times of change, including cultural change. The project’s goal is to create a food culture with different practices, inviting new generations to learn as they grow and build their customs by focusing on the relationships and connections that food brings between humans and non-humans.
Read more/Link to ClimATE exhibition catalogue 2019
