CLIMAVORE Assembly

The CLIMAVORE x Jameel Assembly explores new tactics for ecologically-driven action and reimagines the role cultural institutions, communities and farmers have as agents of transformation in food and agriculture systems within the climate crisis.

Through a range of presentations, meals, debates and workshops the international gathering explores cultural and artistic tactics for ecologically-driven action and policy making. The Assembly brings together farmers, artists, chefs, growers, cooperatives, hospitality businesses, researchers, cultural thinkers, environmentalists, civic leaders, seed keepers and policy-makers to reimagine the role museums and cultural institutions have as agents of transformation in food and agriculture systems within the climate crisis.

The research for the Assembly was produced by CLIMAVORE x Jameel, a joint research initiative established in 2023 reimagining foodways for drylands and wetlands by Community Jameel and Turner Prize nominees Cooking Sections in partnership with the Royal College of Art (RCA). The  Assembly also builds on two fellowships from the Visible Project, which enabled CLIMAVORE to lay the foundation for a long-term project in Italy.

Taking place at the Museum of Civilisations in Rome, Italy, the event convenes dozens of grassroots organisations from Italy and the wider Mediterranean with initiatives in other parts of the world to address the role culture can play in a transition towards food justice rooted in ecologically-driven infrastructures. The organisations involved include: Casa delle Agricolture from Castiglione d'Otranto, Instroom Academy from Antwerp, Sakiya from Ramallah and Roberta Bruno from the Karadrà Cooperative. The event sparks thought about how food can be a lens through which to address the challenges posed by the climate crisis, as well as the cultural shifts and actions required to support agrobiodiversity, soil health, public bodies, alternative market ethics and living seed collections.

On Saturday, 28 October 2023, discussion focuses on how food can be a lens through which to address the challenges posed by the climate crisis, as well as the cultural shifts and actions required to support agrobiodiversity, soil health, public bodies, alternative market ethics and living seed collections.

On Sunday, 29 October 2023, a civic parliamentary debate takes place. The session is dedicated to debate the strategies, actions and commitments of cultural institutions to address the climate crisis through food. It includes keynote presentations by Frances Morris, director emerita, Tate Modern and Parviz Koohafkan, founder and president, World Agricultural Heritage Foundation among others. A series of case studies will debate ‘Becoming CLIMAVORE’ as a stage for experimentation about the role culture and cultural institutions can have as agents supporting more hopeful food futures in agriculture and society at large. The day will close with a Merende night session hosted by Angelo Mai Collective.