The present thesis deals with the playful exploration of fermentation as a practice of care. Fermentation has a lot of positive impacts and can be seen as a practice of care in relation to human self-care, caring with human others, relationships to non-human beings, like microorganisms, and caring with the planet Earth. Based on the question ‘What can game design do to explore fermentation as a practice beyond human (self-) care?’ I developed an Online Fermentation Game. The game functioned as a conversational framework to explore together with co-creators the possibilities of more careful and sustainability-oriented food practices on the example of fermentation. The game involved the step by step and hands-on fermentation of fruits and vegetables while exploring the complexity of care in relation to fermentation. With this project, I aimed to offer a co-learning space to explore together with co-learners the possibilities of more careful and sustainable food practices on the example of fermentation in a playful way. To create a dialogue about more than human care in relation to food, in particular fermentation. To inspire the co-learners to question their relationships around food and discover which actors to care with. Beyond this project and in a larger context, I aim for a paradigm shift from the individualistic human benefit towards a notion of more than human care. This shift can make a huge difference regarding a more sustainability-oriented future of food. With this thesis project, I strived to make a small contribution to this long term vision. Starting from the human need for healthy food, the blind spot of acknowledging fermentation as a sustainability-oriented practice beyond human care, that the majority of other fermentation workshops is missing, was explored in a playful way. The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that this project happened to be situated in challenged me in creating a safe and comfortable co-learning space. Therefore, this project focused on creating a digital- and home-based game experience. To hand over, other design practitioners and change agents can apply and transform the game as part of their fermentation projects. On a broader perspective, the concept of this explorative design game can be adapted inside but also outside the food sector. The project serves as inspiration for a playful and at the same time careful approach to design and change-making. Moreover, it shows an example of shifting community spaces provoked by crises.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-96699 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Föhr, Stephanie |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för design (DE) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds