Tacoshed: do you know where your taco comes from?

Last fall a group of CCA architecture students, led by Landscape Architect David Fletcher (fletcherstudio.com) and Rebar art and design studio (rebargroup.org), shared a meal together at a local taco truck for a class assignment.  The research seminar explored San Francisco’s food and wastesheds. The premise was that a seemingly simple, familiar
food like the taco truck taco could provide visceral insight into the connections between the systems we were exploring. By thoroughly learning the process of formation and lifecycle what it takes to make a taco, students were better able to propose and design a speculative model of a holistic and sustainable urban future. What resulted was a richly complex network of systems, flows and ecologies that we call the global Tacoshed. The research seminar was a part of the URBANlab, an innovative curriculum component of The California College of the Arts Architecture Program.

Please join us for a talk by Jessica Diaz of Gracias Madre, a new restaurant serving organic Mexican cuisine to the Mission District of San Francisco, a presentation of Back to Basics by Materials and Applications (emanate.org) – a recirculating fish taco farm charged with rainwater at the beginning of the season, stocked with locally
spawned tilapia and raising tomatoes, onion, and lettuce by harvest /party time; and a presentation, exhibition, and discussion of the results of our Tacoshed research. Mark Andrew Gravel of Bouwerie will be serving organic black bean tacos from his Spotted Rooster project.

Suggested donation $5-$15

CRITTER Presents: Mother Cultural Exchange!

CRITTER presents:
Mother Cultural Exchange!

Saturday, February 20 from 2-4PM
Cost: Free!  Please RSVP with the number in your party to crittersalon AT gmail.com and the subject heading “Mother Cultures”.

Mother cultures are used to make breads, cheeses, yogurt, kombucha and many other tangy edibles. They are also used to grow mushrooms, pluripotent plant tissues, and even adult beverages! CRITTER kicks off 2010 with the Mother Cultural Exchange, where we’ll have ongoing demonstrations of how to start your own cultures at home, use the exemplar cultures you’ll get to sample, and see some high-tech DIY methods for culturing plants, mushrooms & more! If you’ve got cultures, bring some in to trade with other ‘cultivators’ and if you’ve never heard of this before—all the better! Learn the secrets of the tastiest and healthiest foods directly from their cultivators, hear some live local music, try a few samples & take home some culture of your own! CRITTER’s founder & director Phil Ross (www.philross.org) will be demonstrating some of the methods used when creating Mycotectural Alpha, featured in Time Magazine: Industrial-Strength Fungus (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1957474,00.html).

Reinventing the Commons: a discussion with Iain Boal

Please join us for a discussion with Iain Boal, author of the forthcoming book, The Long Theft: Episodes in the History of Enclosure (Faber and Faber, 2010). Historically, the “commons” have evoked an image of sheep grazing on shared land or the public green in a town center. Boal argues that with the rise of capitalist modernity we have lost our imagination for the many realms that we might otherwise share in common.

The process by which the commons have been transformed into private property is often termed “enclosure.” In his book Boal catalogs key histories of a “long theft” whereby capitalism has dispossessed us of what we most fundamentally share in common in manifold and unfathomable ways. “The enclosures of late modernity take unexpected and protean forms” penetrating even the electromagnetic spectrum and the human genome. “The Long Theft is ultimately an argument for the restoration of the commons and an end to the commodity’s unhappy reign.”
Independent scholar and social historian of technics Iain Boal is the founder of Retort, a group of radical scholars, artists, and activists best known for their book Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War. Boal is the co-editor of Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information and just completed The Green Machine, a History of the Bicycle.

Space is limited please RSVP to rsvp@studioforurbanprojects.org

The Self-Sufficient Kitchen: Winter Pantry

The class will run from 1:00-5:00 pm. Please register via Pay Pal.

Hunting on Spring Ice

Inspired by the unique way that film can induce a sense of wonder and transport us to otherworldly places, A Curious Cinema has been designed to captivate, spellbind and intrigue six year-olds and up. Presented by Studio for Urban Projects co-founder Marina McDougall and educator Bryan Welch of acurious.org.

In 1963, Canadian anthropologists began working with several families of Netsilik Eskimo to create a document of life in the Canadian Arctic before European acculturation. The resulting Netsilik Eskimo Series offers a breathtaking view of kinship, patience, and ingenuity in an environment that is one of the most challenging to human life on earth. We will show an episode from “Group Hunting On The Spring Ice” (33 min). After the screening, tanner JT Beggs will lead us through the process of tanning and stretching a hide followed by some simple projects in leather.

A simple hot vegetarian meal will be served. All ages welcome! Our programs are designed with children age 6 and up in mind. Children over 6 need not be accompanied by an adult.

The event will take place at the Studio for Urban Projects storefront 3579 17th Street between Dolores and Guerrero. Space is limited. Please RSVP to info@studioforurbanprojects.org.

Special thanks to Liz Keim of the Exploratorium Cinema Arts Program.

A Curious Cinema: Hunting On The Spring Ice

Inspired by the unique way that film can induce a sense of wonder and transport us to otherworldly places, A Curious Cinema has been designed to captivate, spellbind and intrigue six year-olds and up. Presented by Studio for Urban Projects co-founder Marina McDougall and educator Bryan Welch of acurious.org.

Hunting on the Spring Ice
In 1963, Canadian anthropologists began working with several families of Netsilik Eskimo to create a document of life in the Canadian Arctic before European acculturation. The resulting Netsilik Eskimo Series offers a breathtaking view of kinship, patience, and ingenuity in an environment that is one of the most challenging to human life on earth. We will show an episode from “Group Hunting On The Spring Ice” (33 min). After the screening, tanner JT Beggs will lead us through the process of tanning and stretching a hide followed by some simple projects in leather.

Details
A simple hot vegetarian meal will be served. All ages welcome! Our programs are designed with children age 6 and up in mind. Children over 6 need not be accompanied by an adult.

Reservations
Please reserve a spot by e-mailingrsvp@studioforurbanprojects.org. Space is limited. Sliding scale $10-$30 per person at the door.

Location
Studio for Urban Projects
3579 17th Street
San Francisco, CA
94110