ASMR Lichen Kitchen (No Talking), 2020
Installation and performances involving the cultivation, cooking, and consuming of lichen with collaborator Ezra Hawkins

In the repurposing of performance artist Jason Lim’s medical materials, performance and bioartist Ezra Hawkins and I grew up various lichen cultures in syringe “biomes” over the span of several months. As a culmination, these lichen samples were harvested and prepared into five edible dishes--Foliose Lichen and Pink Pepper Jam with Bread and Butter, Norwegian Gløgg, Wild Mushroom and Mixed Lichen Noodle Soup, Spinach and Crustose Lichen Pierogi, and Crispy Fruticose Lichen seasoned with Dried Egg Yolks. These dishes were then consumed for a live audience. The consumption of the living organisms we spent months nurturing serves itself as an act of reimagined cannibalism and reevaluation of western science in the discourse of sustainable food. The piece highlights the relationships between body and environment, food and medicine, experimental and unconventional food growth practices, and the future of postnatural life.