Fermentables // Starter Room @ Pool, JHB
Zayaan Khan x Starter Room
30 March 2019
POOL
JHB
As part of Starter Room; "Starter Room is a lab and mediateque in which plant relations, structures and substrates are framed as potential sites for social, political and biological transmission and through which unheard and unexpected histories and knowledges might be accessed. The name “Starter Room” is inspired by the cultivation of wild yeast that is supported and fed through a fermented mixture of flour, water and naturally occurring bacteria, originally used to make bread rise before the invention of commercial instant yeast. Motivated by the fomenting intersection of microbial and macro-ecologies in which plants, cells, spores, and rhizomatic extensions develop, Starter Room is organised as a scene of public encounter through which discursive acts, relations, knowledge production and sharing take place."
"A workshop on wild fermentation led by Zayaan Khan, where we learnt the practicalities of fermentation for food, soil health, medicine, and even for dyeing; met our microbial kin and began to understand their fomenting impact on environments; hear stories of cultural fermentation; and discuss how to build a community of (multispecies) fermenters to revive the pantry. We will use salt and sweet as key tools to unlock ancient practice into an encouraging future."