Thesis2

NAKISKA SHAIKH

(WORKING TITLE) OTHER POTENTIAL TITLES : BEHIND THE BURGER EDIBLE ETHICS UNCOVERING THE FOOD SYSTEM FOOD TRUTH FOOD ETHICS

“Food makes philosophers of us all. Death does the same, but most of us try to avoid thinking about death. Of course death only comes once, so we can postpone thinking about it, but choices about food come many times a day, every day.”

— Gregory E. Pence, The Ethics of Food

CONTENTS 2

INTRODUCTION

3

AUDIENCE

4

PRECEDENTS

5

RESEARCH & BOOKS

6

MINDMAPPING AND SKETCHES

7

TERMINOLOGY

8

MAIN FOCUSES

9

POTENTIAL MEDIUMS

10

TRANSPARENCY DECISIONS

11

ICONOGRAPHY/ COLOR THEORY

INTRODUCTION Food is one thing in the world that everyone needs to survive. It is our

A majority of the population continues to understand the agricultural

energy source, and because of this, food has become the subject of

process as one that is pure and natural without ever seeing a real

one of the largest, if not the largest global industries. Even though a

farm. A sort of tunnel-vision has come over the general population;

majority of people are exposed to this system multiple times a day,

people trust what they are told because they (generally) depend on

they may not understand the process that lurks behind their store

purchasing food rather than growing it themselves. Labels, numbers

shelves. This process includes many different elements including

and codes have become the new way of understanding safety.

commercial and governmental policy, and biotechnology that enables

Nutrition facts and ingredient lists seem to satisfy the majority of the

change. Both policy and technology are the two driving forces that

consumer population because they trust in the food system, and the

make it possible for the food system to evolve in the world, yet they

technology and policy that puts food on their shelves. In reality, the

are often not included in the idealized picture of agriculture.

food system and agricultural industry have developed into one of the most unnatural and manipulated processes that can be deemed as hazardous to the future population.

2

AUDIENCE FEAR & TRUST IN THE FOOD SYSTEM The audience will begin to realize that they trust the system and that gives them reason to fear the system. Few global corporations control the world’s food production, seed distribution, and this gives those corporations a power over the food market that is unprecedented.

REALITY VS THE IDEAL Westernized populations are often mislead to think that their food is grown, produced, and packaged in perfect balance with nature. Many people believe in this ideal because of false representations as well as false news. The audience that views Farm to Table will have a better understanding of what is awful in reality, and what reality should be.

THE WHEEL OF LIFE My audience should walk away with is the fact that we are all part of a living system- we are not above it- or below it and we must work with it. There is an ecology in life that must carefully be tended to. A farmer can never do just one thing, and neither can the consumer - every move counts towards something bigger.

3

PRECEDENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

GLASS CITY

CHICKENOSAURUS

BIOMIMETIC BUTTERFLIES

INVENTIONS & MACHINES

Victor Kroen creates beautiful illustrations

Grito uses glass as a medium to show how

“What we’re trying to do is take our

The

Rube

using a human or another natural form as

common spaces seen in everyday life can

chicken, modify it, and make a chicken-

beautiful lifelike butterflies using simple

inventor famously known for his Rube

his base and adding an invisible interface

be broken down. He features some of the

osaurus.” - Jack Horner. Horner is a reverse

programming tools and laser cut butterfly

goldberg Machine. This machine was

to the body. The illustrations are a

most distinct spaces in the city such as a

evolver of chickens and a dinosaur-maker.

patterns. The series is a beautiful example

more- or less a toy that represented an

response to technology and it’s impact on

hotel, a theatre, a parking garage, and the

This project appeals to me because not

of

working

endless stream of motion. When one

the natural world. This apple could be a

underground metro systems. This is a

only is it a hilarious concept, but also plays

together in a way that is graceful and

component was activated, it would trigger

metaphor for the bioengineered world of

great way to display the flow of traffic in

with the idea of taking technology too far.

intelligent. I feel that this is applicable to

another activation and so on and so on.

agriculture.

city systems.

my topic because I also want to comment

This Machine is an metaphor for the

on tech- nology’s influence in the natural

endless cycle of life and technology that

world as well as the power of technology.

has influenced it.

VICTOR KROEN

4

EL ULTIMO GRITO

JACK HORNER

THE BARBARIAN GROUP Barbarian

technology

Group

and

created

nature

these

RUBE GOLDBERG Goldberg

was

cartoonist

and

BOOKS

DOCUMENTARIES

5

MINDMAPPING AND SKETCHES

6

CATEGORIES, TERMINOLOGY, TOPICS TECHNOLOGY

POLICY

Biotechnology

Corporation/ Agribusiness

Monoculture and GMOs

Labeling (specifically GMO’s)

Polyculture

Freedom of Information Act

Ecology

Farm Bill

Chemical Fertilizers, Natural Fertilizer

Subsidies for Oil and Monoculture

Pesticide/ Herbicide Development (Bt)

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

Livestock/ Crop Machinery

Risk Assessment

Soil Erosion / Germination

FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

Irrigation Systems

WHO (World Health Org)

Ethanol and By-product

WTO (World Trade Org)

Fuel, Biomass, Methane Capture, CO2 emissions

EWG (Environmental Working Group)

7

MAIN FOCUS/EMPHASIS ON MONOCULTURE AND MASS PRODUCTION CORN AND MEAT PRODUCTION Grown and produced in ways that are disrupting natural ecology of the American Food System, monoculture and mass production are a threat to food security in the United States. Human, animal and the environment's health are at risk because of these man-made processes. They are the source of many problems in the US including toxic by-products and a national nutrient-depleted population.

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POTENTIAL MEDIUMS FOR THE FINAL INFO GRAPHIC TRANSPARENT PANELS This is the tentative choice of medium to represent the complexity of the food system. The transparent panels will each have a broken information graphic on them. Viewed separately, each panel will reveal one category; viewed together, the entire system is completed (diagrams on following pages). Physicality is an important factor when considering audience interaction. I have chosen this medium because it makes a complex system completely transparent.

WEBSITE USING Z-INDEX LAYERS Coding a website is still well in reach because of my personal website capabilities. Using Z- index layers will easily allow the information to become layered, however not as transparent as I would like. An example of this type of layering can be seen at http://dangersoffracking.com/. Layers literally disappear beneath the page as the user scrolls down. I understand that this may be an extension of my primary medium.

RUBE GOLDBERG To construct Rube Goldberg machine was my initial plan because of it’s potential engagement with the audience. However, after factoring in the one-time demonstration of a Rube Goldberg machine, the time and effort did not seem to equate to the impact that I want to make on my audience. Engineering such a machine that is kinetic in form is much more appealing because of it’s ability to reset itself and be used multiple times. This method can be problematic because of the fact that it may make the information inaccessible and very difficult to understand.

9

TRANSPARENCY PANELS COMPLEX LAYOUT (DECISIONS) Transparent panels can be aligned according to (one of the following): 1

Front to back; Farm to Table -or - Front to back; Table to Farm. (Is it necessary to include a final meal?)

2

Divide into two distinct ways of farming? The (to put it simply) bad way vs. the good way of agriculture.

3

Categorize each panel according to important facts and align topics according to location and time of activity.

(DRAFT) CATEGORIES FUEL

TABLE

1

10

MONOCULTURE-> Bt &Rt / ANTIBIOTICS

POLYCULTURE PRODUCTION

FARM

MONOCULTURE PRODUCTION

SOIL EROSION/ SOIL INTEGRITY (NPK)

HUMAN/ANIMAL NUTRITION v TOXICITY BIPRODUCTS , BIOMASS, EMISSIONS

2

3

ICONOGRAPHY AND COLOR THEORY Both Iconography and color will be important aspects of the final body of work because they will set the mood in the learning environment. The audience needs to feel like he/she is self-educating rather than being forced to read/look upon the project. Lightness in icons and color will help lift the weight that this subject can often carry. The burden of consuming this vast body of information should be nonexistent. The information will be presented in a more image and icon based design as to assist the flow of information.

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http://edibleethics.tumblr.com/