The 3 Days of Fat programme held at Bush House Arcade at King's in October 2018, was a 'live' art-science research event. The project involved a series of public experiments, performances and discussions, which focused on the construction of an island of fat.
The project, a collaboration between Somerset House Studios residents Thought Collider, artist Arne Hendriks, and Dr Charlotte Mills (visiting research fellow at King's College London), stemmed from a simple idea: in many ways a surgeon unblocking an artery shares experiences with a sewer flusher unclogging a sewer pipe. What might they learn from one another and can such dialogue lead to new research and collaboration?
Each day emphasised a different theme, including fats essential role in life and ecology, health and beauty, and energy. Guests from a broad range of disciplines including artists, nutritional scientists, waste water treatment, cured meat production and a Hula dancer, were invited to participate in ‘live research’ including island building, followed by a public brainstorm reflecting on their knowledge and practice through the lens of the Fatberg. The event subsequently confronted both guests and the visiting public with fat as substance, triggering discussion on our relationship with this material, what it is and what it might become.
3 Days of Fat was a collaboration between King's College London's Department of Nutritional Sciences, Thought Collider and Arne Hendricks, in partnership with Somerset House Studios. It was supported by the university's Culture team. Partner organisations were MU Artspace, Stichting NDSM and Goldsmiths, University of London.
Dr Charlotte Mills - academic lead
Graduating from University of Reading with BSc Food Science in 2009, Dr Charlotte Mills embarked on a PhD investigating the impact of coffee roasting on cardiovascular and gut health. She then joined King’s College London as a Postdoctoral Research Associate where she specialised in the impact of different food components on cardiovascular health. Most recently her work has focused on the impact of trans fat replacements called interesterified fats on lipid metabolism and vascular health.
Since starting this collaboration, Charlotte has returned to the University of Reading to take up a lectureship in Nutritional Sciences, but remains a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s.
Thought Collider - artistic lead
Thought Collider are an art/design research practice exploring metabolic processes, bodies and spaces, and residents at Somerset House Studios. The studio comprises the work of Mike Thompson (UK) and Susana Cámara Leret (ES), experimenting with the meanings and values derived from alternative ways of experiencing built and mediated environments, motivated by emergent nature cultures.
Arne Hendriks
Arne Hendriks is a researcher, artist and creator who explores the edges of specific cultural values that define our relationship with the planet. In Hendriks’ opinion, we should open our minds to radical, new ideas and disruptive practices. In the project The Incredible Shrinking Man, he looks into the question if man could get smaller instead of bigger, how this could be achieved, and what the positive consequences would be. If we shrunk to 50cm, a single chicken could feed 100 people.