This performance event, created specially for the 2022 edition of SIGHT+SOUND —Dancing While Waiting (For the End of the World)—foregrounds the power of natural ecologies to intervene in the often-unchecked momentum of human ‘progress’. Blending spoken-word, concept cocktails, floral installations, and audience engagement, Botanicals Against Humanity asks whether we think we’ve had enough yet. As our habits of resource extraction, industrial agriculture, and intensive migration spiral out of control, the planet is fighting back. Water, soil, and air have become vectors of retaliation, and despite our technocratic and political ‘remedies’, human resistances seem to be waning. So raise a glass—to our health!—and bottoms up!—because we’re getting close to last call. (Oh, and don’t forget to make your bitter(s) choice: neoliberalism never tasted so good.)

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Bio

David Szanto is a artist, teacher, researcher, and consultant working in eco-gastronomy. His experimental approach to food systems engages with communications, design, and ecology. Past projects include performative meals, digital-gastronomic installations, and food and storytelling workshops. David has taught at several universities in Canada and internationally, and has written numerous articles and book chapters on food, art, and performance. He is a regular contributor to the magazine Montréal en Santé and is co-Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal, Canadian Food Studies. He recently co-edited and published two open-access volumes, Food Studies: Matter, Meaning, Movement (an introductory food studies textbook) and Showing Theory to Know Theory, a collection of illustrative vignettes that help undergraduate students understand theoretical concepts and disciplinary jargon from the social sciences.