Mineral Dinner
minerals, “cooked” crystals
A dinner table and a growing laboratory that exposes the minerals needed to keep the food industry alive.
made in collaboration with Irene de Boer for Symbiosis Series, curated by Fenne Saedt
“To grow a simple tomato you need very little: fertile soil, moisture, light, and heat. In six months, the seeds slowly germinate into plants bearing juicy tomatoes, with which you can prepare the tastiest pasta sauces, soups, and other recipes. With the arrival of the greenhouse around 1940 and modern greenhouse horticulture, people managed to escape from unpredictable weather conditions, unwanted insects, and bacteria that can make plants sick. Suddenly it became possible to make everything controllable; to grow the best tomatoes as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ideal growing conditions for a greenhouse tomato are about sixteen hours of light daily, a humidity of about ninety percent during the day and 65 percent during the night. In addition, tomatoes like compounds such as calcium nitrate, magnesium sulfate, and potassium. The balance between temperature, light, humidity, and nutrient levels can be programmed and automated in modern greenhouses using sensors, cameras, and computers. However, raw materials and minerals are needed to create those technologies. Instead of growing something in the ground, it is the earth that is being turned inside out by humans today.”
Fenne Saedt