MD/STL food forager Tattfoo Tan takes a positive approach to preparing for climate change with a number of projects, most recently his NEAKA – a catamaran-like sculpture that serves as a vitrine for his New Earth MREs – was on display at Smack Mellon as part of FOODShed: Art and Agriculture in Action, a program curated by fellow Marfa Dialogues/New York alumna Amy Lipton.
As the artist writes on his website,
The biggest problem climate change poses isn’t how to plan for resource wars, or how we strength of sea wall, or when we should evacuate. It won’t be addressed by buying an electric car, signing a treaty, or turning off the air-conditioning. The biggest problem we face is a philosophical one: understanding that this civilization is already dead. The sooner we confront this problem, and the sooner we realize there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves, the sooner we can get down to the hard work of adapting, with mortal humility, to our new reality.
Tattfoo is an alumnus of Marfa Dialogues/New York and will be leading a collaborative food foraging trip with Ryan Maher of Missouri Wild Edibles as part of MD/STL. Visit their profile page for all the details.