by Miriam Simun
Human cheese illustrates a story of multispecies collaborations – complex patternings of entangled agents – among mammals, microbes, and other companion species.
Milk is a tricky substance – entangled with bodies and environments where it originates. Steering clear of chemical toxins, and deadly microbial agents, requires a real commitment to understanding exactly where this food substance comes from.
By substituting our own milk for that of other species, we suddenly gain a molecular shift in perspective. It is possible to suddenly denature “cheese” – an everyday food – simply by making it human. With this this denaturing shift it becomes a congealed thing worthy of our attention, our consideration, our care.
Read Recipe Two: Human Cheese on Google Books.
Miriam Simun is a research-based artist investigating the implications of socio-technical and environmental change. She makes creative disruptions: objects, performances and participatory experiences that open up spaces of possibility, imagination and debate. She has exhibited and lectured internationally, and her work is supported by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Creative Capital, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Simun currently teaches in the Design, Art & Technology program at the University of the Arts.
