Feasts for the Future: Devon, England
An Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project
Over the course of 2018 a group of communities with an interest in transforming how we buy, use and generate energy came together to hold a series of ÂÌñ»»ÆÞ˜utopian feastsÂÌñ»»ÆÞ™. These communal meals acted as a medium in which ideas of a better future, and how it might be achieved, can be explored and tested, shared and supported, initiated and evolved.
Of course, any meal will have multiple direct relationships with energy use and generation: it will underpin everything from the cooking of the meal, to the food and drink consumed, to the surrounding infrastructure. But a communal meal also embodies in a particularly direct and powerful way how any one ÂÌñ»»ÆÞ˜sustainabilityÂÌñ»»ÆÞ™ issue cannot, ultimately, be kept separate from any other, or from the more intangible and unpredictable elements that otherwise sustain our lives.
Prior to the first ÂÌñ»»ÆÞ˜FeastÂÌñ»»ÆÞ™, participants from all the communities took part in two afternoons of workshops which looked at the idea of ÂÌñ»»ÆÞ˜imagining the futureÂÌñ»»ÆÞ™ through four different disciplinary lenses:
- arts and culture (David Sergeant)
- geography (Tim Daley)
- dietetics and public health (Clare Pettinger)
- architecture (Bob Brown).
Devon feasts
- The first feast took place before a gorgeous sunset and beneath an already-visible moon.
- The second feast took place in the historic , hosted by to celebrate their 'PEC pals' project.
- The third feast took place at a renewable energy farm home in the Teign Valley near Newton Abbot, Devon, hosted by .
- The fourth feast took place in Ivybridge Methodist Church, hosted by .
- The fifth feast took place at a café in Tavistock, Devon, hosted by .
The Feast Table
Artist-maker has made a table which will be used at all the feasts in South Devon. The table was sourced from sustainable materials and made in BarnabyÂÌñ»»ÆÞ™s workshop just south of Haytor on Dartmoor. Drilled in a cloud-like disc around the tableÂÌñ»»ÆÞ™s hub are several hundred small holes into which attendees at each Feast for the Future will place specially crafted wooden pegs, in an arrangement of their choosing, with a different wood being used for each event. A shifting collective of possible constellations will thereby emerge as the table makes its way through the different meals: traces of conversations, presences and connections.
Find out more about the Feast Table, its making and its maker
