Category: Abundance

Abundance Fantasies: The Alasitas Pathway

March 7, 2014 By arne hendriks 0

From an early age the miniature teaches us to want. During childhood toys in all sorts and shapes create the pathways for  a grown-up desire for material abundance. The promise is right there, in the palm of your hand: toy cars, doll’s houses, miniature cattle and…

The Fear of the Gods

February 3, 2014 By arne hendriks 1

In The Food of the Gods and how it came to Earth, the British writer H.G. Wells presents Herakleophorbia IV, a nutrient that makes anything grow to about six times its regular size. The story takes the reader, rather uninspired, through the regular motions of such…

The Namazu

January 1, 2014 By arne hendriks 0

In 19th century Japan earthquakes were often represented by and even attributed to an enormously oversized catfish, the namazu. According to popular folklore under normal circumstances this large fish was kept under control by a deity. If the god however, was not managing his worldly affairs,…

Turtle Tears

December 16, 2013 By arne hendriks 0

Size strongly influences our ability to recognise and benefit from specific small scale possibilities that would be available if man was a lot smaller. The act of shrinking promotes the Feynmanian awareness that our large size keeps us from a much richer experience of reality, as well…

Abundance Fantasies: Spherical Soup

October 30, 2013 By arne hendriks 0

The Disproportionate Restaurant investigates how downsizing the human species will affect our relationship with food. Over the past years we did a number of experiments, including abundance fantasies such as the Ostrich BBQ and Sunflower Table and explorations of new ingredients and possibilities such as…

Abundance Fantasies: Giant Sushi Roll

September 12, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

Our desire for tallness is strong and deeply rooted. So deep it is difficult to imagine the change towards a general desire for shorter stature. However, the human species is not the sum of just one or two desires but of many. In the Abundance…

Abundance Fantasies: Exaggeration Cards

August 30, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

Exaggeration cards are picture postcards depicting enormously oversized fruits, vegetables and livestock. First appearing in Fresno in 1905 the cards quickly struck a chord throughout the western United States. These  “tall-tale postcards”  became especially prevalent in small town rural communities hoping to forge an identity…

Abundance Fantasies: Baby Burrito

July 15, 2013 By arne hendriks 0

Mexican restaurant Gorditos prides itself in serving a burrito the size of a baby. It’s customers have taken up the habit of taking a photo with their new born next to the burrito and putting the image up on the ‘baby wall‘. More than a…

Abundance Fantasies: Al-Kawthar

June 23, 2013 By arne hendriks 0

In the Abundance fantasies we explore the origin and contemporary meaning of symbols, stories and tropes of abundance. People have an insatiable desire for more, but in reality we constantly have to cope with scarcity. Perhaps the activation of an abundance iconography will help further ignite…

Post-Growth / Post-Scarcity

June 18, 2013 By arne hendriks 0

Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human needs and wants in a world of limited resources. Several cornucopians have explored the notion of the post-scarcity economy, with unlimited free goods, services and information. The most appealing aspect of most of these post-scarcity…

Abundance Fantasies: Cornucopia

June 6, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

In the Abundance fantasies we explore the origin and contemporary meaning of symbols, stories and tropes of abundance. People have an insatiable desire for more, but in reality we constantly have to cope with scarcity. Perhaps the activation of an abundance iconography will help further ignite…

Abundance Fantasies: Cockaigne

May 23, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

“And still I’ve more to tell of it; The geese when roasted on the spit Fly to the abbey (believe it or not) And cry out ‘Geese, all hot, all hot!’ With garlic in great quantity, The best-dressed geese a man could see. The larks are…

Abundance Fantasies: Grapes of Canaan

April 15, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

Our desire for abundance represents both the cause for the planet’s perilous condition and the incentive for a possible solution. If (despite Earth’s dwindling resources) we want to continue our present lifestyles, and the desire for abundance is stronger than the desire for being tall, eventually…

Raspberry Explosion

April 1, 2012 By arne hendriks 1

One of the most important reasons to shrink the human species is that we’ll shrink towards a world of abundance. At 50 cm we’ll only need about 2% to 10% of the resources we need now. A simple grape will have the size of a…

Small Food Physics

April 5, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

The Disproportionate Restaurant investigates the relationship with food and ingredients from the perspective of a human species of 50 centimeters tall. It maps possibilities that today’s chefs can only dream of, even in the age of molecular gastronomy. There is the relatively predictable resizing of portions and ingredients. A…

Abundance Fantasies: King of Cabbage

April 8, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

In the predominantly Anglo-Saxon culture of growing giant vegetables it is possible to get a taste of what life at 50 cm’s would be like in regards to the food supply. Visit the website of The European Giant Vegetables Grower’s Association for interesting links and…