Speculative Kitchens
6 — 13 3 2026
The project takes the kitchen as a site of epistemological aerobics: a “speculative laboratory”, where human and more-than-human metabolisms intertwine. Through collective experiments, this exhibition expands a decolonial understanding of the interrelation of human and more-than-human heritage. Recognising smell and taste as legitimate modes of knowledge-making the works allow visitors to “become-with” collaborative entities through sensorial and embodied forms of understanding.
Presented here are the results of a speculative design workshop where participants explored alternative perspectives on cooking, smelling, fermenting, moving, and tasting, in collaboration with the Istrian University of Applied Sciences and the METRIS Research Centre. Each activity became a critical and creative act, where heritage, rituals and scientific methodologies are seen as tools for the expression of plants and bacteria.
Through these workshops and displays, we explore several methodologies of more-than-human interrelation. By showcasing sensory and somatic mapping exercises, the exhibition investigates individual and collective olfactory epistemologies, where the expression of smell is a form of communication of more-than-human entities, as odours are derived from locality and always in relationship with the environment. These works reframe culinary practices as processes of microbial and environmental agency through collaboration in fermentation and medicinal plant practices. With that, we aim to ignite the discussions on the cultural politics of smell and flavour.
k: Laura Rodriguez Daria Testo
a: Geraldine Santillana Armas, Nabil Almanssour, Kristina Suryani, Ivan Đukez, nat skoczylas, Laila Kasumagić, Marta Matulić, Milica Denković, Nik Esmeijer, Zara Esra Salomé Visser, Eline Flick i Adam Tuna