fermenting institutions, thinking beans is the first programme from la Sala and will include a series of seasonal gatherings and offerings in the form of workshops, artist editions, and discursive events, alongside our growing practice in our huertas. 

With fermentation as a starting point, we are inviting you to think with us about the kind of institution which might best be able to navigate the current moment, and model future realities. How can we work in solidarity with the urgencies of the time we are living in, on a local and planetary level? What can contemporary art learn from food growers, producers and collectives? How do we value this work of sustaining and sustainability - in relation to reproductive labour and care work? It feels urgent to explore ideals of slowness, biodiversity and solidarity in connection to the art institution; not only through programming, but also through internal structures and working practices.

Taking the process of fermenting as a methodology, we will explore the time, care and conditions needed to grow an art institution - one which is generative, sensitive to locality, and responsive to conditions of burn out, both planetary and personal. Over three seasons, we’ll work towards the structure of a localised feminist art institution, online for now, but hopefully across the table before too long.