Last Supper Food Artist 2009 – biG CAAKe

Food Artist: biG CAAKe (Gary Lincoff, Christopher Kennedy, Athena Kokoronis, Caroline A Woolard, Kate Cahill, and others)

Title: StrataSpore Layered Cake

Interpretation: When the largest and oldest living organism known surfaces, it manifests as a delicate mushroom no bigger than the palm of a hand. Inspired by rhizome networks as tools for bioremediation, a metaphor for the layers of unseen infrastructure below our feet, and a collaborative niche upon which to focus a collective narrative, we propose a multifaceted interactive research project that will culminate in events combining dance, education, environmental remediation and architecture.  StrataSpore is a platform for collective knowledge about local NYC ecosystems and its potential for applications in urban sustainability. The platform will cultivate “spores” of knowledge by combining elements of task/performance-based art, experiential learning, and experimental design practice that implements a dialogue about unseen, natural, and man-made systems as sites for restorative sustainability applications. Our focus is directed towards the mushroom, and its potential for changing the ecology within a landscape. We invite communities and individuals to partake (with biG CAAKe) in a cross-disciplinary practice of visualization and re-interpretation of natural systems (mycology) as models for community engagement. Based on the connective function and form of mushroom ecology, StrataSpore will harness local fungi as a model and means for engagement and re-interpretation of living in urban spaces.

Bio: biG CAAKe is a cross-disciplinary collective that studies mycology as part of their practice. biG CAAKe was awarded an ILAND Research Fellowship, and are presently collaborating and studying with Mycologist, Gary Lincoff. Please visit their website to find out more about their upcoming events this fall.