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--- public_diet [2008-07-11 07:54] – 81.179.15.206
+++ public_diet [2008-07-14 08:07] – katerich
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== feasability study for sustained sustenance: Feral Trade Cafe at http gallery ==
+**feasability study for sustained sustenance: installing a Feral Trade Cafe at HTTP gallery, London UK, for autumn/winter 2008. A platform to present feral trade goods and examine the protocols of refreshment service as accessory to the other public communications of the gallery. The research emerges from an interest in the public diet of cultural organisations where foods for thought and consumption might align; and includes testing the regulatory limits and social expectations for a cafe, as well as preparing the resources, human and otherwise, required to run it. **
-===== HTTP structure, business plan, financial model =====
-Current conditions
+Feral Trade http://feraltrade.org
+HTTP http://www.http.uk.net
-    Umbrella company is Catlow & Garrett (unincorporated partnership). Tax entity,
-    deals with rent and overheads, PAYE.
-    HTTP & Furtherfield are not for profits with written constitutions.
-    Furtherfield has an advisory board and is funded by ACE.
-    HTTP is a furtherfield.org project.
-    HTTP compound is zoned a s mixed / live-work.
 ===== CAFE motives, structure and infrastructure =====
-Motives for opening a cafe as an art project.
+  * Motives for opening a cafe as an art project.
+Practical
+. HTTP is located in the back of beyond - a business park in the residential London borough of Haringey [[http://www.haringey.gov.uk]] - from the point of view of its public. A cafe would offer visitors something to chew on alongside the art: sustenance and conviviality, enriched space for contemplation, information and reading.
+Elongate visit.
-. HTTP is located in the back of beyond from the point of view of its visitors.
+. A service for local residents and studio occupants. The neighbourhood is changing - incoming small business and studios - the cafe would be an interface to that. A means of connecting with the local community that's more fluid and open, a softer and more everyday interface than the gallery.
-    Would like to give exhibition goers something more to chew on such as
-    Sustenance and conviviality, space for contemplation, information and reading.
-    Elongate visit.
-. Useful service for local residents and studio occupants The neighbourhood is
+Conceptual
-    changing, it's a way of connecting with the local community that's more fluid and
-    open, a softer and more everyday interface than the gallery.
-    Promoting an alternate economy and ecology: so many shops deal with just money.
+    http: The cafe will demonstrate an alternate economy and ecology, that promotes free
-    Promote free processes and experiences other than those governed by hegemonic global
+    processes and experiences other than those governed by hegemonic global
-    capitalism. An economy based on other peoples' activities and how you get from A to B.
+    capitalism: so many shops deal with just money.
+    Feral Trade is an economy based on other peoples' activities and how you get from A to B.
     Even at this small scale it has a polemic value.
+[[feral_trade_economy]]
-  * income scenarios
+Economic
-On the books. All transactions logged and accounted for.
+Profit is not a necessary motive, which opens up the operating territory considerably.
-The cafe would be designed as financially self sufficient, although application for seed funding from ACE London agreed as ok. A feral trade project: kate to put in the application, Marc & Ruth to support.
+  * income scenario
+Slow start.
+All transactions logged and accounted for.
+The cafe would be designed as financially self sufficient, although seed funding needed for start-up equipment and utensils.
    Feral Trade runs at a fabulous loss, in business terms.
+   It operates in an absence of the principle of least effort, excluding it from basic
+   capitalist measure of success.
    The investment is in the network.
-  * hrs of operation, visitor patterns, winter plan
+  * hours of operation, visitor patterns, winter plan
-    Gallery hours are currently 12-5PM fri-sun, possibly extending to thurs.
+Gallery hours are currently 12-5PM Fri-Sun, possibly extending to Thurs.
-    Average 15-20 visitors per weekend. Mainly they arrive via Manor House tube.
+Average 15-20 visitors per weekend, mainly arriving via Manor House tube.
-    There is no cafe between the tube and HTTP although it is possible to take a
+There is no cafe between the tube and HTTP although it is possible to take a
-    detour to Costa Coffee. Portuguese cafe in the other direction.
+detour to Costa Coffee, a commercial chain in the business mall on Green Lanes.
+Portuguese cafe in the other direction has cheap and good espresso and a largely Portuguese clientele.
+The cafe would not necessarily be linked to shows.
-    The cafe would not necessarily be linked to shows.
+The gallery has an exhibit approximately 3/4 of the year.
-    The gallery has an exhibit approximately 3/4 of the year.
+There are gaps between shows. In winter and gaps, the distributed library [[http://www.http.uk.net/docs/exhib6/summer_of_folk.shtml]] and Feral
-    There are gaps between shows. In winter and gaps, the distributed library and Feral
+Trade cafe could occupy the gallery space. People would visit for the library, or for meetings.
-    Trade cafe could occupy the gallery space. People would visit for the library, or for meetings.
+Library visitor numbers are low but it's the intensity of the experience that counts.
-    Library visitor numbers are low but it's the intensity of the experience that counts.
+    http: It would be a coup to overcome geography and keep the cafe open in winter.
-    It would be a coup to overcome geography and keep the cafe open in winter.
     Without affecting global warming.
-    Patio bonfires are worth looking into.
-    In winter it could be a kiosk, menu devised for creating heat or utilising refrigeration.
+Patio bonfires are worth looking into.
   * caretaking: human resources as they currently stand
-    When the gallery is open, there is someone always available to respond to visitors.
+When the gallery is open, there is someone always available to respond to visitors.
-    Sat and sun have more dedicated inviglation, fri can be more hectic.
+Saturday and Sunday have dedicated invigilation, Fridays can be more hectic.
-    Currently Ale (administration and coordination) does fri+sat, sun there is a paid invigilator.
+Currently Ale (Furtherfield administration and coordination) does Fri-Sat; Sundays there is an outside invigilator.
-    * roles for cafe: preparation, service, cash-taking, cleaning up, stock management.
+Hazards: At what scale would the cafe interfere with other office activity?
-    Cafe service role should be rotated amongst present core personnel.
+    * roles for cafe.
-    This kind of distributed culture is integral to the way Furtherfield works as a group.
-    Cafe service should be continuous with natural office life. Disinvest food service of
-    lowered status, advance tea and coffee service as a communications medium.
-    Weekly stock management would be 1 person's responsibility.
+**Service:** preparation, waiting, cash-taking.
-    Probably Ale who deals with this kind of thing anyway.
+Cafe service role would be rotated amongst present core personnel,
+this kind of distributed culture is integral to the way Furtherfield works as a group.
+http://www.furtherfield.org/about.php
+Cafe service should be accessory to natural office life, disinvesting refreshment service of any lowered status. Instead take tea and coffee service as an interpretation of aristotlean idea of [[householding]]: production for use instead of for gain.
+**Management:** Feral Trade would remain involved in the politics and practicalities of supply. Weekly stock management would be 1 person's responsibility,
+probably Ale who deals with this kind of thing anyway.
   * physical setup: service and storage spaces, equipment investment, utensil choices
+Initial investment will be necessary (equipment, utensils, presentation media).
+At a minimum, tables, chairs, umbrellas and signage to communicate cafe presence to the nighbourhood.
-    Decking. Sound the landlord out on this between rent payments.
+The decking along the side of HTTP building is potentially prime seating area. HTTP to sound the landlord out on this between rent payments,
-    Landlord relations are distantly friendly. There is a janitor who keeps a close eye
+Landlord relations are distantly friendly. There is a janitor who keeps a close eye
-    on the compound. If landlord rejects decking plans, the parking spaces in front are
+on the compound. If landlord rejects decking plans, the parking spaces in front are
-    legally HTTP's, paid for within rent. Cafe could serve from here.
+formally HTTP's, included in their rent. Cafe could serve from here with guests seating themselves informally (on the decking).
-    Is the back garden an alt possibility?
-    Liability would need to be thought through either way.
+    Liability would need to be thought through or ignored.
   * publicity
-    Cafe would have its own publicity strand, as a HTTP project.
+Cafe would have its own publicity strand as a HTTP project.
-    Also promoted as background for exhibitions.
+Also promoted as background for exhibitions.
+  * other models (positive and negative)
+    Cafe Kino http://www.cafe-kino.com/about/index.htm, Bristol.
+    Run by a collective of artists etc who also run the Here Shop & Gallery over the road.
+    Mnay of their customers are from their extended social networks & probably live
+    within a few blocks. People go there for the sociability, decor, wifi,
+    good tea/coffee, cultural contagion plus pleasure of investing in own social
+    networks.
+    Leila's Shop, Shoreditch. Review covers the for & againsts pretty effectively:
+    http://londonreviewofbreakfasts.blogspot.com/2008/04/leilas-shop-shoreditch.html
 =====  REGULATION =====
-    Use existing premises regulations as a template/ jelly mould for evasion or
+[[uk_premises_regulations]]
-    compliance. Produce a Regulatory reading menu as research result / art project.
+    Use existing regulations as a template/ jelly mould for evasion or compliance.
+    Produce a Regulatory reading menu as research project.
+===== HTTP structure  =====
+Umbrella company is Catlow & Garrett, a partnership and tax entity, deals with rent and overheads, PAYE etc.
+HTTP is a http://furtherfield.org project.
+HTTP & Furtherfield are not for profits, with written constitutions.
+Furtherfield has an advisory board and is funded by Arts Council England.
+HTTP is located in a business arena zoned as mixed / live-work.
 =====  MENU =====
@@ Line 104: / Line 130: @@
    Food goods will be informationalised (onboard or on menu)
-   Stock considerations include: regulatory perimeters, shelf life (perishability),
+   Selection will involve a biodiversity of criteria, none of which should be
-   network relations, the ability of the food item to host information.
+   primary or exclusionary. Stock considerations include:
-   Selection will involve a biodiversity of criteria, none of which will be primary / exclusionary.
-   These include seasonality, locality, information on source, information on carriage,
-   trade relations with source, trade relations of delivery - embodied by courier.
-   Expand conception of localness beyond the village fortress model
-   like the scale-free hubs of the internet.
+   - compliance with or skirting the regulatory perimeters [[uk_premises_regulations]]
+   - shelf life: to avoid sales incentive or waste
+   - the facility of the food item to host information, including
+   - information on source: relations with land embodied by the transport of its produce
+   - information on carriage: network relations, trade relations in delivery, embodied by courier/s.
+   - seasonality, including transportation seasons
+   - localness
-   Possibly low-ethic ingredients will be involved.
+   Expand understanding of localness beyond the territorially bounded, landlocked
-   Open up food-labelling as a platform for discussion and adaptation, as VS righteous boasting.
+   village model, to a shared set of connections and navigable transit routes,
-   Undercut profit-motivated product fascism of fresh 'n' wild.
+   like the scale-free hubs of the internet.
+[[common_products]]
-   Read-write menu. Open to intervention from random vendors eg. customers can contribute
+   Ingredients and products with questionable ethics can be included, along with their
-   via sell/trade/gifting stock.
+   source information. The main thing is to expand the product monologue to articulate a
+   larger picture of the world it moves through.
+[[tea_from_bangladesh]]
+    Compare with Fair Trade which limits its communiques to the the iconic picture of
+    farmer/producer/collective, a homogenous landscape
+http://feraltrade.org/fair
+    reversing earlier breaks with tradition in visualising agriculture labour as a
+    statement on rural poverty as opposed to example of pastoral virtue. Gleaning:
+    François Millet 1857
-   Economy of miniaturisation. Enables hosting small batches/single items: ultra seasonality.
+http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~waste/timeline/story-pic1.htm
-   Menu should be easily adaptable and transmissable
-   perhaps database-driven
-   and list items currently unavailable, in negotiation or pending.
+   Feral Trade opens up food-labelling as a space for communication, as
+   opposed to righteous boasting and promotion of purity fetishes.
-   Courier process. Use moving social networks including known and funded travel to HTTP
+http://feraltrade.org/research/righteous_products
-   to deliver goods from afar, including store-bought ones. Journey and relationship
-   documented, expands attention to food provenance beyond gourmet-style fetishisation
-   of origin or source to the broader ecology of supply.
+   Undercut profit-motivated product constructions, elevated origins and destinies,
+   the type of truth claim propagated by fresh and wild.
-   Promote inter-organisational trade with artistic peers, local and foreign.
+[[breakdown_of_expenses]]: The cafe menu to also include itemisations in the transit of cash, as witnessed in the goods' procurement, particularly obstacles, as the materiality of money in small quantities generally defies the idea of the smooth movement of finance across global networks.
-   Balkan and baltic states are a good place to start.
-   Challenge f+w to a duel.
+   Read-write menu. Open to intervention from random vendors eg. customers can contribute
+   menu items via sell/trade/gifting stock.
+   Economy of miniaturisation / small-scale. Enables hosting small batches/single items
+   ultra short seasons.
+   Menu should be easily adaptable and transmissable, probably database-driven,
+   and include a section for items not in stock: wished for, in negotiation or pending.
+   Courier process. Use moving social networks including known and funded travel to HTTP
+   to deliver goods from afar, including store-bought ones. Documenting these journeys and
+   relationships expands attention on food provenance beyond a gourmet-style fetishisation
+   of origin or source, to a broader ecology of supply.
+   Promote inter-organisational trade with artistic peers, local and foreign.
-   Commission or collect artists' food projects: eg. Food for Free apple mush on toast
+   Challenge fresh+wild to a duel.
-   Source producers or recipes from HTTP social networks (cake, jams, herbs, sprouts)
-   incl city farm and allotment, home cultivation.
+   Source producers or recipes from HTTP social networks,
+   including city farm and allotment, home cultivation (cake, jams, herbs, sprouts).
+   Commission or collect artists' food projects.
    Regulatory limits: Define and serve emergency food products; outer limits of biscuit.
    Cream tea variations.
    Feral Trade staples start menu.
@@ Line 157: / Line 198: @@
   -    Tea from Bangladesh (TBC)
   -    Cola from Bristol.
+  -    Salt from Gujarat
+  Other organisational contenders
+  -    Fo.am Brussels. Grappa, Latvian cured meats, computer chocolate biscuits.
+  -    Mejor Vida Corporation, Mexico City. Hot chocolate
+  -    Irational.org, Bristol. Food for Free apple mush
 ===== OUTPUTS =====
-   proposed start time mid-september ( for jeremey bailey show)
+   proposed demo for mid-september ( jeremey bailey show)
+   possibly a harvest party / launch in oct?
    local: table menu of contents / protocols / products; launch/event
    external: present at fo.am open sauces in brussels in november as part of public diet
    disucssion