clockwise, from center rear, Kyle Hayden, Sam Weed,
Josh Schultz, Lauren Wulker, Carder Gilbert.

Students practiced “Landscape Choreography” with architect Elisa Serra (Berlin), and artist, researcher, choreographer, and activist Emanuele Braga (Milan) at the Institute for Food farm, March 9-11. The students are part of the Institute for Food (IF) Design studio, the Digital Design studio (College of Creative Arts), and the Food Studies Workshop (College of Arts & Sciences). 

The students engaged in a choreographed dance during which they chose how to move—playing, rolling, jumping, walking—at times “becoming” remnant stalks of corn or field animals, at other times slowing down to listen intently to the sound of rain and laughter, and doing the “work” of farm labor and ritual. 

Landscape Choreography is a collaborative group in Europe involving artists, curators, urban planners, universities, local authorities, and community groups in interdisciplinary research which promotes social transformation and a “culture of the commons,” by supporting collective practices of urban gardening, seeking new uses for urban space, creating public art and events, encouraging cultural programs and the development of innovative social networks.

“Landscape Choreography” is Serra & Braga’s term for a range of activities based on the agricultural cycle—to dig up, to seed, to maintain, to crop, to continue. The aim is to cooperate with citizens in the creation of new urban landscapes through workshops of participative construction, and to stage this process through art performances. In the words of Serra & Braga, “The practice of spontaneous and creative use of abandoned public spaces can inaugurate a virtuous cycle to increase new forms of social and cultural cohabitation.” Read more>> 

 Serra & Braga concluded their visit with a public lecture in Alumni Hall. The visit to the Department of Architecture and Interior Design was supported in part by a Scholarship and Teaching Grant from the College of Creative Arts. Ben Jacks is leading this effort in the CCA.

(pictured on the right) from left: Lauren Wulker, IF farm manager; Charles Griffin, IF farm consultant and instructor of sustainable agriculture at Cincinnati State; Marguerite S. Shaffer, Co-PI Institute for Food Provost Interdisciplinary Innovation Grant, Professor of Environmental History.
photo credit: elisa.serra@landscape.choreography