Cultural Capital (2009)

A ‘Cultural Capital’ Activity as Part of Craftivism at Arnolfini, 2009

Cultural Capital (2009) is a distributed artwork in which a sour-dough bread starter is sent on tour to be cared for by curators. The work was on tour for twelve months from March 2009 to March 2010.

Cultural Capital draws attention to the transformative and generative properties of bacteria and culture in traditional bread making in which a sour-dough starter is created and grown in the home, workplace or gallery; cared for by curators (curators here is not restricted to professional curators).  Historically, a good sour-dough culture was very important in day-to-day living: it can be easily transported, shared with friends and strangers and can last for generations. Following the recipes and protocols of participation curators grow a sour dough starter and share it with guests at a formal or informal event that they organise.  Curators document the event itself and document the process of caring for the sour dough starter.

The work emerged from our regular bread-making activities. At first we just began to notice slight disturbances in the everyday patterns and processes of baking a loaf as we realized that we were ‘caring for’ a very fragile entity. We came across a text by Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker that made a connection between ‘caring for’ and curating, and we began to think about the possibility of inviting curators to care for the starter.