Rain WU & Mariana Sanchez SALVADOR

Rain Wu, b.1986, Taiwan & Mariana Sanchez Salvador, b.1987, Portugal

Rain Wu is an artist and architect based in London. Her work is conceptually driven and materializes in different forms and scales from drawing, sculpture, food performance to architectural installation. In her art practice, food is both a physical and a conceptual medium. Following the geographical, political, cosmological and microbial traces of food, her work discusses the relationships between consumption of food, digestion of cultures, charting of lands and recalling the myths through subjects such as tea, bread and mycelium. Mariana Sanchez Salvador is an architect and researcher. Her research spans from urban to residential contexts, investigating how food transforms the environments we inhabit. She currently teaches Food Systems at the Master in Food Design at Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE).

As Above, So Below is composed by an extensive archive of astronomical celestial records and microscopic cell images. It explores a new worldview interwoven between the micro and macro scales, tracing the history of food and spanning across dimensions of time and space. From the food on our plates, to communities, landscapes, the universe, and even extending inward to the microorganisms within us, food permeates every aspect of life. Eating implies that we take something from the world, exchanging death for life. Empathy begins with acknowledging the position of our body in relation to the world, the artwork presents the interconnectedness of food from a unique perspective, showcasing empathy for multidimensional and diverse species’ existence. (J.W)