HOPE #2: What does Earth taste like? A Conversation with masharu

At the Ars Electronica Festival 2024, visitors can experience new works created within the framework of the European Media Art Platform, such as the project 'Compost as Superfood' by masharu from the Netherlands. masharu has a doctorate in mathematics and a degree in photography. One of masharu's great passions, which has also brought the native Russian artistic fame, is the consumption of earth-like substances such as clay and lime. In 2017, masharu founded the 'Museum of Edible Earth', an interdisciplinary project with a corpus of earth samples consumed by different people around the world for a variety of reasons. The touring exhibition contains more than 500 samples of edible earth, mainly clay such as kaolin and bentonite, but also chalk, limestone, volcanic rock, diatomaceous earth and topsoil.
The materials come from several continents, acquired by masharu via online platforms such as Ebay and Etsy and also while traveling. As part of the EMAP residency at Ars Electronica, masharu is currently researching the production of edible compost made from fresh vegetables. By consuming soil, masharu wants to engage in a direct dialogue with our soils and nature and also raise others' awareness of the effects of climate change and environmental pollution.

Find out more about the festival here: https://ars.electronica.art/hope/en/
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