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public_diet [2008-07-14 09:47] – katerichpublic_diet [2008-07-16 16:06] – katerich
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-**feasability study for sustained sustenance: installing a Feral Trade Cafe at HTTP gallery, London UK, from autumn/winter 2008. A platform to present feral trade goods; and develop the protocols of refreshment service as accessory to the other public communications of culture. The research emerges from an interest in the public diet of cultural organisations where foods for thought and consumption might crossover; 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. ** +**feasability study for sustained sustenance: installing a Feral Trade Cafe at HTTP gallery, London UK, autumn/winter 2008. A platform to present feral trade goods and develop protocols for HTTP refreshment service, in line with the other public communications of the gallery. This research emerges from an interest in the public diet of cultural organisations where foods for thought and consumption might crossover; 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. ** 
  
  
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 Practical Practical
  
-1. HTTP is located in the back of beyond, a business arena 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, oppportunity to elongate visit.+1. HTTP is located in the back of beyond (an industrial estate in the residential London area 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, and the oppportunity to elongate their visit.
  
 2. 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.  2. 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. 
  
-Conceptual +Concepts 
  
     http: The cafe will demonstrate an alternate economy and ecology that promotes free        http: The cafe will demonstrate an alternate economy and ecology that promotes free   
-    processes and experiences other than those governed by hegemonic global capitalism: +    processes and experiences other than those governed by hegemonic global capitalism - 
-    so many shops deal with just money.  +    so many shops deal with just money. Feral Trade is an economy based on other peoples'  
-    Feral Trade is an economy based on other peoples' activities and how you get from A to B. +    activities and how you get from A to B. 
     Even at this small scale it has a polemic value.     Even at this small scale it has a polemic value.
-[[feral_trade_economy]]  +  
- +Economics((Feral Trade relies on a moving network of social connections for the transportation of goods. Trade managed through an intricate time-space-personal system covering thousands of miles, linking hundreds of people, like the Trobriand islanders of yore. The orderly distribution of goods via a variety of motives, of which gain is not prominent.))
-Economic +
- +
-Profit is not a necessary motive, which opens up the operating territory considerably. +
-Although stock should still pay for itself plus provide surplus for office consumption. +
- +
-  * income scenario +
  
-Slow start.  +Profit is not a necessary motive - which opens up the operating territory considerably. 
-All transactions logged and accounted for. +Although stock should still pay for itself plus provide a heady surplus for office consumption. Seed funding will be required for start-up equipment and utensils: HTTP or external.
-The cafe will be designed as financially self sufficient, although seed funding required for start-up equipment and utensils.+
  
-   Feral Trade runs at a fabulous loss, in business terms. +   feral trade: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  +   It operates in an absence of the principle of least effort which excludes it from 
-   market measure of success.  +   basic market measures of success. The investment is in the network. 
-   The investment is in the network. +
    
   * hours of operation, visitor patterns, winter plan    * hours of operation, visitor patterns, winter plan 
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 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, a commercial chain in the business mall on Green Lanes.  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.+Portuguese cafe in the other direction has good cheap espresso and a mainly Portuguese clientele.
  
 The cafe would not necessarily be linked to shows. The cafe would not necessarily be linked to shows.
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 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. +    http: It would be a coup to overcome London geography and keep the cafe open in  
-    Without affecting global warming. +    winter, without affecting global warming. 
          
 Patio bonfires worth looking into. Patio bonfires worth looking into.
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 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.
 Saturday and Sunday have dedicated invigilation, Fridays can be more hectic. Saturday and Sunday have dedicated invigilation, Fridays can be more hectic.
-Currently Ale (Furtherfield administration and coordination) does Fri-Sat; Sundays there is an outside invigilator. +Currently Ale (Furtherfield administration and coordination) does Fri-Sat; Sundays they hire an invigilator. 
  
-Hazards: At what scale would the cafe interfere with other office activity?+Hazards: The main anticipated hazard is success, with too many customers impacting staffing. 
 +At what scale would the cafe interfere with other office activity?
  
     * roles for cafe.      * roles for cafe. 
  
 **Service:** preparation, waiting, cash-taking. **Service:** preparation, waiting, cash-taking.
-Cafe service role would be rotated amongst present core personnel, +Service role would be rotated amongst present core personnel, 
 this kind of distributed culture is integral to the way Furtherfield works as a group. this kind of distributed culture is integral to the way Furtherfield works as a group.
 http://www.furtherfield.org/about.php http://www.furtherfield.org/about.php
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   * physical setup: service and storage spaces, equipment investment, utensil choices   * physical setup: service and storage spaces, equipment investment, utensil choices
  
-Initial investment will be necessary (equipment, utensils, presentation media).+Initial investment for equipment, utensils, presentation media.
 At a minimum, tables, chairs, umbrellas and signage to communicate cafe presence to the nighbourhood. At a minimum, tables, chairs, umbrellas and signage to communicate cafe presence to the nighbourhood.
          
-The decking along the side of HTTP building is potentially prime seating area. HTTP to sound the landlord out on this between rent payments,+The decking along the side of HTTP building is potential cafe seating area, although in terms of afternoon sun gets a total eclipse. HTTP to sound the landlord out on decking 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 
-formally HTTP's, included in their rent. Cafe could serve from here with guests seating themselves informally (on the decking).+formally HTTP's, included in their rent. Cafe could serve from here with guests seating themselves informally (on the decking). Afternoon sun is another reason to occupy parking spaces.
  
     Liability would need to be thought through or ignored.     Liability would need to be thought through or ignored.
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   * publicity   * publicity
  
-Cafe would have its own publicity strand as a HTTP project. +Cafe would have its own publicity strand as a HTTP project, as well as being promoted as background for exhibitions.
-Also promoted as background for exhibitions.+
  
   * other models (positive and negative)   * other models (positive and negative)
  
-    Cafe Kino http://www.cafe-kino.com/about/index.htm, Bristol.  +Cafe Kino http://www.cafe-kino.com/about/index.htm, Bristol.((Cafe Kino is run by a collective of artists etc who also run the Here Shop & Gallery over the road. 
-    Run by a collective of artists etc who also run the Here Shop & Gallery over the road. +Many of their customers are from their extended social networks, probably from  
-    Many of their customers are from their extended social networks, probably from  +within a few blocks radius. People go there for the sociability, decor, wifi,  
-    within a few blocks radius. People go there for the sociability, decor, wifi,  +good tea/coffee, cultural contagion plus pleasure of investing in own social  
-    good tea/coffee, cultural contagion plus pleasure of investing in own social  +networks.)) 
-    networks. +Leila's Shop, Shoreditch.((Leila's Shop: expensive bespoke groceries, review covers the for & againsts pretty effecitvely: http://londonreviewofbreakfasts.blogspot.com/2008/04/leilas-shop-shoreditch.html))
  
-    Leila's Shop, Shoreditch. Grocery outlet and cafe, review covers the for & againsts:  
-    http://londonreviewofbreakfasts.blogspot.com/2008/04/leilas-shop-shoreditch.html 
  
-=====  REGULATION ===== 
- 
-[[uk_premises_regulations]] 
-    Use existing regulations as a template/ jelly mould for evasion or compliance.  
-    Produce a Regulatory reading menu as research project.  
  
 ===== HTTP structure  ===== ===== HTTP structure  =====
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 HTTP & Furtherfield are not for profits, with written constitutions. HTTP & Furtherfield are not for profits, with written constitutions.
 Furtherfield has an advisory board and is funded by Arts Council England. Furtherfield has an advisory board and is funded by Arts Council England.
-HTTP is located in a business arena zoned as mixed / live-work.+HTTP is located in a business arena zoned as mixed use (typically integrating residential, retail, commercial and social amenities) / live-work. 
 + 
 +=====  REGULATORY STRUCTURE ===== 
 + 
 +[[uk_premises_regulations]]    
 +    Use existing regulations as a template/ jelly mould for evasion or compliance.  
 +    Produce a Regulatory reading menu as research project. 
 +http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=jello+mold&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
  
-  
 =====  MENU =====   =====  MENU =====  
  
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    Promote Feral Trade experimental trader aims.    Promote Feral Trade experimental trader aims.
  
-   Food goods will be informationalised (onboard or on menu)+   * Stock Options
  
-   Selection will involve a biodiversity of criteria, none of which should be  +All menu items should be also available to buy as take-home groceries, where possible.  
-   primary or exclusionary. Stock considerations include:+Stock selection will involve a biodiversity of criteria, none of which should be primary or exclusionary. Considerations include:
  
-   - compliance with or skirting the regulatory perimeters [[uk_premises_regulations]] +   - shelf life: avoid sales incentive or waste 
-   - shelf life: to avoid sales incentive or waste +   - the facility of the food item to reveal information ((The commodity,    
-   - the facility of the food item to host information, including +as object produced for sale on the market, conceals its relationships  
-   - information on source: relations with land embodied by the transport of its produce +except for the money relation. The product of the commons is filled with  
-   - information on carriage: network relations, trade relations in delivery, embodied by courier/s.+human relations, including possibly unpleasant ones (Peter Linebaugh). 
 +Commoning produces social relations in the form of commons, freely associated humanity.   
 +Sarai Reader http://osdir.com/ml/culture.india.sarai.reader/2006-06/msg00073.html)) including 
 +   - information on source, relations with land, embodied by the transport of its produce 
 +   - information on carriage, network and delivery relations embodied by courier/s. 
 +   - compliance with or skirting the regulatory perimeters
    - seasonality, including transportation seasons    - seasonality, including transportation seasons
-   - localness+   - locality
  
-   Expand understanding of localness beyond the territorially bounded, landlocked  +    All cafe goods will be informationalised (onboard or on menu). 
-   village model, to a shared set of connections and navigable transit routes,  +
-   like the scale-free hubs of the internet. +
  
-[[common_products]]+  * Information
  
-   Ingredients and products with questionable ethics can be included, along with their  +Ingredients and products with questionable or complex ethics should be included on the menu, along with  their product information. The main thing is to expand the product monologue beyond simple boasting and purity fetishes (eg. the truth claims, elevated origins and destinies - gourmet, organic, health - promoted by fresh and wild style packaging http://feraltrade.org/research/righteous_products); or the homogenous landscape of happy farmers that Fair Trade propagates ((the happy farmer landscape, an image array that reverses earlier breaks with tradition in visualising agriculture labour as a statement on grinding rural poverty as opposed to example of pastoral virtue. See Gleaning, François Millet 1857 http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~waste/timeline/story-pic1.htm)) http://feraltrade.org/fair;  
-   source information. The main thing is to expand the product monologue to articulate a  +to articulate a broader picture of the world the product moves through.  
-   larger picture of the world it moves through. +[[tea_from_bangladesh]] for example. 
-[[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  +  * Other Menu Information
-    statement on rural poverty as opposed to example of pastoral virtue. Gleaning:  +
-    François Millet 1857+
  
-http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~waste/timeline/story-pic1.htm+[[breakdown_of_expenses]]: Menu also to include items and incidents in the transit of cash preformed for the goods' procurement: particularly obstacles, as the materiality of money in small quantities generally defies the idea of smooth movement of finance across global networks.
  
-   Feral Trade opens up food-labelling as a space for communication, as   +Cafe receipts can be A4 laser prints with a torrent of product information, alongside the date and price of purchase.
-   opposed to righteous boasting and promotion of purity fetishes. +
  
-http://feraltrade.org/research/righteous_products+   * Reciprocity
  
-   Undercut profit-motivated product constructions, elevated origins and destinies,  +Read-write menu. Open to intervention from random vendors eg. customers can contribute  
-   the type of truth claim propagated by fresh and wild.+menu items via peddling stock (sale, trade or gift).
  
-[[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.+   * Seasonality
  
-   Read-write menu. Open to intervention from random vendors eg. customers can contribute  +Economy of downscale. Enables hosting small batches/single items, ultra short seasons and microclimates. Menu format should be easily updated and transmitted (database-driven) and include out of stock items - wishlisted, in negotiation or pending delivery.
-   menu items via sell/trade/gifting stock.+
  
-   Economy of miniaturisation / small-scale. Enables hosting small batches/single items +  * Localness
-   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  +   Expand the notion of localness beyond the territorial boundaries of the village  
-   to deliver goods from afar, including store-bought ones. Documenting these journeys and +   or nation state, to more closely replicate the worlds HTTP works in. A shared set  
-   relationships expands attention on food provenance beyond a gourmet-style fetishisation  +   of connections and navigable routes like the scale-free hubs of the internet. 
-   of origin or source, to a broader ecology of supply.  +
-   Promote inter-organisational trade with artistic peers, local and foreign.               +
  
-   Challenge fresh+wild to a duel.+    * Suppliers
  
-   Source producers or recipes from HTTP social networks,    +Source producers or recipes from HTTP social networks, commission or collect artists' food projects, cultivate agrisocial relations with city farms / allotments, rural family connections, home cultivation to procure cake, jams, herbs, sprouts etc. 
-   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. +   * Delivery
-   Cream tea variations. +
  
-   Feral Trade staples start menu.  +Courier process. Use moving social networks including known and funded travel to HTTP  
-  -    Coffee from El Salvador +to deliver goods from afar, including store-bought ones, and document this process via the Feral Trade Courier database, http://feraltrade.org.  
-  -    Tea from Bangladesh (TBC) +Actively promote inter-organisational trade with artistic peers, local and foreign.               
-  -    Cola from Bristol. +
-  -    Salt from Gujarat+
  
-  Other organisational contenders +   * Regulations 
-  -    Fo.am Brussels. Grappa, Latvian cured meats, computer chocolate biscuits. +    
-  -    Mejor Vida Corporation, Mexico City. Hot chocolate +Regulatory limits: Define and stock emergency food products; define emergency; outer limits of biscuit; cream teas.  
-  -    Irational.org, Bristol. Food for Free apple mush + 
 +   * Basics: Feral Trade staples start menu.  
 + 
 +      - Coffee from El Salvador 
 +      - Tea from Bangladesh (TBC) 
 +      - Cola from Bristol. 
 +      - Salt from Gujarat 
 +      - Zaytoun olive oil and other products  
 + 
 +http://zaytoun.org / local distributors at http://www.zaytoun.org/index.php/sellers/#London 
 + 
 +   * Other organisational contenders 
 + 
 +      - http://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  
 + 
 +   Challenge fresh+wild to a duel.
  
 ===== OUTPUTS ===== ===== OUTPUTS =====
  
    proposed demo for mid-september ( jeremey bailey show)    proposed demo for mid-september ( jeremey bailey show)
-   possibly a harvest party / launch in oct? +   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     external: present at fo.am open sauces in brussels in november as part of public diet 
    disucssion    disucssion
 +
 +
 +===== SHORT VERSION =====
 +Feral Trade cafe at HTTP gallery
 +
 +Feral Trade http://feraltrade.org
 +HTTP http://www.http.uk.net
 +
 +HTTP gallery (media- and net-art) is a cultural minority in a mainly working 
 +class / cafe free residential area of NE London. The cafe will start off very small 
 +scale and is modelled as a means of extending natural office tea and coffee service
 +to gallery visitors and locals. It is not motivated by cash profit, although goods 
 +should cover their own costs.
 +
 +All goods will be served with information about source and/or delivery,
 +including the materiality of cash transactions performed to procure them. 
 +Visitors should be able to buy coffee etc either by the cup or in bags to 
 +take home.
 +
 +The feral trade courier process uses moving social networks, including
 +known and funded cultural travel, to conduct international grocery
 +trade by primarily social means. In documenting this process it expands the 
 +idea of food provenance beyond a gourmet-style fetishisation of origins, to 
 +the broader ecology of supply. 
 +
 +The cafe hopes to promote inter-organisational trade with artistic peers,
 +local and foreign, and to expand a definition of localness beyond the
 +territorial boundaries of the village or state.
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
  
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