Cucina Semi Aquatica explores the ecosystems of two distant sites living between land and water, through unusual recipes and overlooked ingredients.

On Saturday 25th September we will be cooking online in the Cucina Semi Aquatica.
The cooking workshop will focus on introducing productive landscapes, existing between land and water, through the medium of food.
We will be cooking together via Zoom. Everyone is welcome to join the cooking or, more simply, the conversation which will generate in the kitchen.

We will learn how to create three simple dishes - starter, main and dessert - which are inspired by the Venice island of St Erasmo and the Liverpool and Leeds Canal. The recipes we will explore will depart and take inspiration from these two very different landscapes, looking at their history and evolution across time. Although the meal will feature ingredients which are very much local to these two sites, we invite all participants to bring to the online kitchen counter alternative ingredients representing territories between land and water which are more local to them and easily found in their region/country.

If you are planning to join the live cooking session and cook from your home, a list of ingredients (and a guideline on how to find local equivalents) and utensils will be shared on the Cucina Semi Aquatica page one week before the session, on Saturday September 18th.

11:00 Introduction to School for Civic Action
11:10 Cooking a bridge between St Erasmo & WetLab
11:30 Live cooking session on Zoom (follow the link)
13:00 Q&A, open conversation and reflections
13:30 Session ends - enjoy your meal!

Saturday 25th September
11:00- 13:30 CET time (18:00-20:30 Seoul time)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83372136450

Meeting ID: 833 7213 6450

Our thanks go to Francesca Ulivi from Fairland Collective and Matteo Stocco from Kinonautstudio who shaped early conversations around St Erasmo and its role within the Venice lagoon.

Cucina Semi Aquatica connects to the learnings generated through WetLab: a floating laboratory created by public works and Assembly which uses the UK canal networks as a site as well as a subject. WetLab is a space where creative minds including artists, architects, scientists, engineers and technologists invite the public to come and explore the ecology of the waterways and together envisage potential future uses for the canal in their local area.

WetLab is intended to create an opportunity for discussion and exploration, serving as a spark to imagine future uses of living on and around water. Working with the canals and waterways, WetLab will host playful experiments, workshops and cross-disciplinary discussions.

The canal-based pavilion, designed by critical design practice public works, will tour sites across Greater Manchester and Lancashire after launching in Cheshire for AND Festival 2021, becoming a hub for innovative learning, discussion, and engagement on the waterways.

WetLab by public works + Assembly is commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices and Super Slow Way. Produced by Abandon Normal Devices for AND Festival 2021. Delivered in partnership with Canal & River Trust and Wigan Council. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. The WetLab was designed by Rhianon Morgan Hatch and Carlotta Novella from public works and programmed and activated with Hannah Fincham and Ross Bennet from Assembly.