“Microbes have a lot to teach us if we are ready to listen to them and experience their world!”
Eva Bakkeslett
Eva Bakkeslett is a Norwegian action artist, filmmaker, curator and cultural activist; she graduated from Dartington College of Art in England (majoring in Art and Ecology) and now lives on the island of Engeløya in northern Norway, where she has created an Artist Residency program and a guest studio as a platform for aesthetic collaboration and research, based on ecological and interconnected thinking and cooperation. As an artist and cultural activist, Eva explores the possibilities of social change through subtle actions and subtle shifts in thinking; as a key form of her subtle action, she has developed the fermentation process, which is a central element and metaphor in her work. Through her work, she mediates the interrelationships between humans, nature and culture as one living organism; she explores ways to reconnect with our senses, with non-human life and with ancient, deeply rooted ways of knowing. She believes that the elusive, poetic and imaginative power of art is vital for this reconnection. In her socially engaged artistic practice, she often combines film, participatory events and workshops; she enjoys collaborating with other artists, activists, scientists and involving people in her work. She exhibits, lectures and performs all over the world; her films have been screened at many film festivals and art events. As a curator, she has focused on the connection between art and ecology through the project Gentle Actions at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo (2010), the Repair program at ROM Gallery in Oslo (2016-2017) and her most recent project Bird Conference (2018-2023). In the Czech Republic, she participated in the exhibition Cartography of Hope: Stories of Social Change at the DOX Center (2012-2013). Translation: Jiří Zemánek.
15 years ago I made a film about the poetics of bread. I let the bread rise in a dark shower with a microphone attached to the side of the rising dough. I listened carefully and there, in the darkness, I heard it speak!
strkslkjodiudfnamnfdkfasss
During the transformation, the dough whispered the secret language of fermentation.
It was there that I began my journey to discover this wondrous world, from which I have been unable to leave or distance myself, neither in life nor in art. Once you fall in love with fermentation, you can't stop. It's contagious!
Such a diversity of flavors and cultures to explore and soak up.
So many vital and temperamental processes.
So much energy!
And an amazing way to collaborate with these creative and more than human beings, the oldest and most successful transformers on this planet.
The word CULTURE comes from the Latin word cultura, which means to cultivate and prepare the soil for something to grow. Culture also refers to the community of microbes involved in the transformative process of fermentation. Over the centuries, human cultures have developed a mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationship with microbial cultures through the fermentation of foods as a means of preserving them and increasing their palatability and digestibility.
Microbes are single-celled organisms most commonly known as bacteria. Although they have been underestimated and misunderstood since they were first discovered by humans in the 17th century, they are the oldest and most successful living things on Earth. Their vast communities have found ingenious ways to survive and create opportunities for other life to flourish. Microbes create most of the air we breathe by converting sunlight into oxygen, and they miraculously digest and recycle the soil beneath our feet. When you realize that your body actually hosts ninety times more microbes than human cells, your self-image quickly expands. We are all intertwined with each other’s stories.
Microbes are capable of converting sugars into vinegar and carbon dioxide, a process commonly known as fermentation. Working in partnership with humans, they are responsible for some of the most amazing culinary delights, from wine and beer to yogurt, sourdough bread, kimchi and sauerkraut. Before the advent of refrigeration, fermented cultures were cultivated, shared and passed down from generation to generation. They contain unique blends of living cultural heritage; the knowledge and traditions associated with them have developed as place-specific activities, always reflecting the natural resources and identity of the area.
Many fermented cultures have died out due to neglect and the modern way of life and commercially efficient production. It is a similar story to that found in human cultures, where their diversity, their languages and experiential knowledge have also died out, replaced by a homogenized corporate culture. When cultures die, so too do their know-how and the experiences of generations. With the demise of bacterial cultures, so too does the bond that was created through the constant sharing of culture with others, including our relationship with the soil and its microbes. Fortunately, bacterial cultures are incredibly resilient and can survive for thousands of years. By reclaiming these leftover cultures, fermenting them, sharing them and digesting them, people today can actively cultivate cross-cultural resilience, diversity and sensory experiences.
They can also, figuratively and literally, ferment through good and nourishing conversations and fruitful interactions. Social fermentation is just that. Inspired by microbes, we can meet in places where collaboration, mutual exchange, and change happen through shared enthusiasm and joy.
For a good fermentation process, you need good ingredients, time, the right temperature, and a little magic. These conditions also apply to social fermentation. The magic of fermentation lies in the culture itself. In sourdough bread, it is the “mother culture” or “root” that is cultivated and shared with others. In social fermentation, that root is, in the truest sense of the word, inspiration.
The late English physicist David F. Peat developed a new model of social activism that can be likened to a fermentation process. He called it “gentle action,” which begins with a period of mindful suspension of creative activity until a new form of creative action emerges on its own. Gentle action creates a ripple effect instead of individual explosions, encourages dialogue instead of rhetorical debate, and considers the whole system instead of seeing it in fragments. When you take gentle action, you develop an open, flexible, and creative mindset that encourages collaboration with others. This model can be applied to most activities, from everyday solutions to familiar problems to global issues.
As a gentle and cultural activist, you can reclaim these microbial wonders, grow and cultivate them, digest them and share them to reactivate yourself and your local environment. Cultivating cross-cultural diversity is rewarding. It makes you feel like you are Robin Hood, a sense of reclaiming what has been lost in a world where the invisible transformative processes of microbes have often been trivialized, overlooked, neglected, suppressed, tamed or homogenized, both physically and metaphorically. Reviving and embodying the bond between nature and culture is empowering, and it is beautiful and enriching to nurture and share these unique cultures with each other. The skills, knowledge, stories and aesthetic dimension of fermentation and the expansion of our sensory boundaries are added value. Microbes have much to teach us if we are ready to listen to them and experience their world!
