As well as re-imagining ways that natural food sources found in the cracks of parking lots, might be harvested, Live Dining includes rethinking the systems of agriculture that take place in rural settings and their connection to our food supply in the city. Harvesting wild plants is called foraging, and foraging as a way to get food, came before the controlled, managed and organized system of agriculture. Foraging lets the wildness be, the plants have planted themselves. Agriculture needs us to control the planting and manage and care for the growth. With foraging, the plants have adapted to the environment and do not need to be cared for.
Live Dining encompases the embracing of agricultural systems, despite the negative impacts of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers based from the oil industry, and hoping that one day the inefficiency of a polycultural system will be favored over, the present day monoculture dominant system, with a renewing of the value of foraging, as the predecessor of agriculture , foraging will come into being.
The concept of Live Dining includes to bring cultivated – agricultural plants in earth (soil) to the site of Live Dining, where as well wild plants grow. Or bring Live Dining to cultivated and wild plant location of growth. Both cultivated and wild plants are significant to the concept.
edible plants growing in urban cracks Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
dandelion, shepherd's purse and sow-thistle on the table are the foraged wild edible plants that grow in the urban cracks of an Edmonton parking lot
Live Dining, on Wednesday, May 23, 2007, took place in a Parking Lot between the home bases of Visualeyez 2007, which are Latitude53 gallery and the Days Inn – the accommodations of the artist of Visualeyez 2007. The site of the parking lot was chosen for its lack of abundant controlled and wild plants, as of course it is a space made for cars, not for people or plants. The site was determined by the growth of edible wild plants, considered weeds, for the location of Live Dining (on May 23rd, 2007). Few hardy plants manage to seed themselves in cracks in the asphalt and small areas of wasteland in the parking lot, such as, where the parking lot grounds meet the side of the brick building, and cement borders. The edible plants growing are considered weeds. The weeds that Live Dining participant-performers-audience foraged (picked, ecologically, making sure to leave behind enough to persist), were: dandelion (flower and leaves), shepherd’s purse (heart shaped leaves) and sow-thistle (only young leaves), which we see picked and placed on the dining table, in the parking lot, in the photo.
Before the foraging by all took place, cultivated plants, planted in earth, in recyclable cardboard and plastic containers were set down in the parking lot and placed under the foot-leg of the table and chairs, which were also brought to the site and installed by all. Thus the feet of the table and chairs sunk into the soil of the cultivated plants, which were harvested, after the foraging took place, to prepare the meal for dining. The preparation, after foraging, harvesting, was to cut up and cook the vegetables and herbs and weeds. And then dine in the parking lot. We made a stir-fry, a soup and two salads.
Live Dining, on Wednesday, May 23, 2007, took place in a Parking Lot between the home bases of Visualeyez 2007, which are Latitude53 gallery and the Days Inn – the accommodations of the artist of Visualeyez 2007. The site of the parking lot was chosen for its lack of abundant controlled and wild plants, as of course it is a space made for cars, not for people or plants. The site was determined by the growth of edible wild plants, considered weeds, for the location of Live Dining (on May 23rd, 2007). Few hardy plants manage to seed themselves in cracks in the asphalt and small areas of wasteland in the parking lot, such as, where the parking lot grounds meet the side of the brick building, and cement borders. The edible plants growing are considered weeds. The weeds that Live Dining participant-performers-audience foraged (picked, ecologically, making sure to leave behind enough to persist), were: dandelion (flower and leaves), shepherd’s purse (heart shaped leaves) and sow-thistle (only young leaves), which we see picked and placed on the dining table, in the parking lot, in the photo.
Before the foraging by all took place, cultivated plants, planted in earth, in recyclable cardboard and plastic containers were set down in the parking lot and placed under the foot-leg of the table and chairs, which were also brought to the site and installed by all. Thus the feet of the table and chairs sunk into the soil of the cultivated plants, which were harvested, after the foraging took place, to prepare the meal for dining. The preparation, after foraging, harvesting, was to cut up and cook the vegetables and herbs and weeds. And then dine in the parking lot. We made a stir-fry, a soup and two salads.
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