Fooooood and What’s In Between
2022-2023 ANNUAL PROJECT
Fooooood and What’s In Between grew out of the central role that food plays in the everyday work of 422 as a community hub and in its efforts to promote food justice in Longsight and beyond. While food is essential for survival, it is also far more than physical fuel. It carries culture, heritage, and memory, and often functions as a social bond that brings people together across communities.
At the same time, food has become a focal point for wider social and environmental pressures, from climate change and pandemic-related disruptions to the war in Ukraine, which affected global wheat supply chains and intensified food insecurity in many parts of the world.
In September 2022, 422 Arts published an open call inviting artists, researchers, and social practitioners to develop projects engaging with the social and environmental aspects of the food we consume. The call offered financial support alongside curatorial and practical guidance, supporting contributors to develop their proposals in dialogue with the centre and its community.
The following selected projects took place at 422 throughout 2022–2023 as a programme of public talks, events, shared meals, and creative commissions, alongside our free monthly creative workshops focused on cooking, growing your own greens, and creative uses of kitchen scraps. Together, the programme brought different perspectives into conversation, using food as a way to think through questions of migration, care, and environmental responsibility.
PROGRAMME PARTICIPANTS
Another Provision is the collaborative practice of researcher Dr Hanna Baumann (UCL Institute for Global Prosperity) and artist Johann Arens. Together they apply strategies of public art to highlight the need for societal change, imagine concrete alternative models at the urban level and de-stigmatise public services.
Jessica El Mal is a British-Moroccan artist, curator, and researcher from Manchester. She is the founder of A.MAL Projects, an art and research initiative aiming to provide paid opportunities for artists from North Africa and the diaspora to connect, exchange and explore together themes of ecology and globalization.
Durty Beanz is an Action Research project operating at the intersection of contemporary art practice and digital anthropology. Their project for 'Fooooood and What's In Between' explored Manchester's takeaway culture focusing on 422's local area
