Join artist Sean Roy Parker to learn the basics of pickling and fermentation, working with food, art and communities around an anti-capitalist and zero waste focus and find out more about a working model of this from Sheffield-based Social Pickle.

14–19 year olds interested in art, cooking, gardening and social practice are invited to join Sean Roy Parker, Rule of Threes and Social Pickle for an online workshop exploring all of the above and more!

The event will be hosted via Zoom on Wednesday 28th April, 4–6pm. The workshop is inspired by the theme of ‘The Stomach’ in this year’s Liverpool Biennial, exploring the idea of it as an intelligent part of the body, and how it can produce and shape the environment.

Participants will learn about good gut bacteria and different fermenting techniques , Parker highlighting how you can pickle things you have at home in the cupboards. Sean will talk you through the pickling recipe whilst narrating about his practice, with opportunities for questions. Then Social Pickle will present their working model in Sheffield for using food surplus to create a local, foraged and sustainable supply of delicious produce. With support from Rule of Threes.

For Who?

• For young people in the age range of GCSE to Undergraduate level, this creative workshop and presentation is aimed at people beginning to develop their creative routes
• 14-19 year olds interested art, cooking, gardening and social practice or all of these

The workshop will:

• Give an understanding on how the basic lactofermentation process works with a live sauerkraut demonstration and follow along either live or use the recipe for a future make
• Learn about a practice that bring together ideas of food justice, collaboration, low carbon and gut health
• Hear from an organisation with a functioning model of this in practice
• Create your own path to how you can use (or are already using) these collective and collaborate ideas and green practices by writing your values, wants and needs from ideas like this being part of your community, family or individual experience
• Ask questions and find out more about healthy gut bio, how to close the loop on waste and thinking as a collective.

Outcome?

The session will be an immersive and exciting experience, learning how to start pickling, methods for sustainability, collective organising and where art sits within all these seemingly separate fields of communities and cooking.

The 'artist presentation' part of the session will include:

• An introduction to Liverpool Biennial and how we work with international contemporary artists, collectives, and practices
• An introduction to Sean Roy Parker’s practice and the journey taken to form a creative career
• A discussion with the students and young people, allowing participants to explore their own ideas and interests, including focus on current study. Thoughts and advice will be offered.

The 'workshop' part of the session will include:

• A creative exercise in doing, making or thinking that will teach participants more about the host artist’s practice
• An opportunity for attendees to develop either a skill, idea, process or even just time to think in a creative or contemporary way

The overall session should leave attendees with things to consider, potential actions or ways to respond to their own personal creative journey.

About Sean Roy Parker

Parker's work is about the lifecycle of materials, complexities of civic responsibility and how to tackle waste culture through collaborative problem-solving. He creates social and environmental frameworks which can accommodate multiple non-linear narratives and alternative currencies to encourage practical, post-capitalist action using abundance and care. Using natural, studio and industrial debris to frame and reflect issues around overwhelming global consumption, his work manifests as sculptures, outdoor installations, publications, foraging walks, fermentation workshops, supper clubs, litter picks, sound pieces and more.

http://seanroyparker.com/

Newsletter: fermentalhealth.substack.com

About Social Pickle – Food Hall

Foodhall is Sheffield’s multi-award winning community kitchen and public dining space. During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic our emergency food parcel response has fed over 13,000 people in the City, and volunteers have given over 7,000 hours of their time.

Social Pickle is exactly what it says on the bottle! Bringing people together to share the joys of foraging, fermenting, pickling and producing.

We plan to harness the seasons and the surplus of Sheffield, channelling the flavours of this city and sharing it out in jar sized portions.

Each jar/bottle will have a social life, as we go on foraging walks for wild ingredients, tap into allotment networks for leftovers, and host workshops to share ferment recipes.

https://www.foodhallproject.org/

About Rule of Threes

We make small but beautiful projects, produced with time and care, that embed contemporary art practices in everyday life.

In the garden, the Rule of Threes determines how best to plant your vegetables, suggesting combinations of plants that co-exist harmoniously and support each other to flourish. This describes the way we hope to work with artists and communities. We aim to initiate new art programmes which create agency and change for people and their local neighbourhoods, bringing together artists, producers and local people. Our current strands concern spatial and economic justice, and the rights of children and young people. Rule of Threes is a not-for-profit company based in Sefton, Merseyside, established by Maria Brewster and Sue Potts in 2018.

We are committed to supporting the development of co-created arts practice within all of our work. Our projects support early career artists to develop their work and create opportunities to work alongside established artists in a community of practice model.

https://ruleofthrees.co.uk/#