The first CLIMAVORE Assembly was held in Rome, 27–29 October 2023. It consisted of an international gathering of cultural institutions reimagining the role they can have as agents of transformation within the climate crisis. By reconnecting cultural and artistic programmes with local food infrastructures, the Assembly explored new tactics for ecologically-driven action and policy making. CLIMAVORE Assembly brought together a network of museums advocating for change into a conversation with policy makers, growers, cultivators, grassroot activists, seed keepers, chefs and environmentalists, committed to addressing the climate crisis through food, agroecology and aquaecology.
A series of debates, inspirational lectures, groundbreaking case studies and performative meals addressed how museums and education platforms can instigate new policies, drive civic movement and take actions towards regenerative food systems and climate justice, bringing the many cultures around food together. The gathering took place at Museo delle Civiltà and Campidoglio.
The Assembly revolved around the Becoming CLIMAVORE campaign, launched in 2020 to rethink menus across restaurants, cafes and canteens in cultural and educational institutions. Starting in the UK with Tate, farmed salmon was removed from the menus across their four museums and replaced with regenerative aquaculture products that proactively respond to marine ecologies. Engaging now more than 20 institutions worldwide, including Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, Istanbul’s IKSV, Serpentine and V&A in London and KØS in Køge, Becoming CLIMAVORE has evolved into a movement to address the seasons of the climate crisis, from drought to polluted seas and soil infertility.
To Those Who Nourish—CLIMAVORE Ground Working Group at SPACES, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Becoming CLIMAVORE, Back to Earth campaign at the Serpentine Galleries, London, UK.
Çamuralem / Wallowland in collaboration with IKSV, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Becoming CLIMAVORE at KØS, Køge, Denmark.
The Assembly builds on two fellowships from the Visible project, which enabled CLIMAVORE to lay the foundation for a long-term project in Italy. The first of which was initiated in collaboration with Locales. It also draws on the experience of the Visible Temporary Parliaments, which, since 2015 have occupied city parliaments with socially engaged art projects, to infuse new perspectives in democratic debates. Research for the CLIMAVORE Assembly to advance foodways in drylands and wetlands has been produced with CLIMAVORE x Jameel at the Royal College of Art, London.
CLIMAVORE Assembly is promoted by Visible (a project by Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto and Fondazione Zegna), long term partner Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, and CLIMAVORE x Jameel at RCA, in collaboration with Museo delle Civiltà of Rome, Roma Capitale, Gaia Art Foundation, Teiger Foundation and Hartwig Art Foundation. It is made possible thanks to the support of: American Academy in Rome, Academia Belgica, Real Academia de España en Roma, German Academy Rome Villa Massimo and Circolo Scandinavo in Rome.