Crossings was an and artist devised walk and edible journey collaboration by artists Natasha Rosling and Vilma Luostarinen. It was commissioned and produced as part of Practice, Place, Purpose – the National Trust partnership symposium at Exeter University – which investigated place-based contemporary arts.

Crossings was designed purposely as a walk and shared picnic lunch exploring connections between food, body and place. Guests were divided into three groups: Garden, Pond and Valley and led on a walk into the chosen landscape, carrying with them a lunch made with site-specific ingredients such as foraged leaves and herbs, garden vegetables and duck eggs from a local farmer. The picnic was prepared by the artists, and packed in bespoke bundles made by hand with natural materials such as cotton, beeswax and wood. Once guests had immersed themselves in the landscape and found a place to sit down, they worked together to explore and enjoy the contents. By letting people carry and serve the picnic themselves, Natasha and Vilma’s intention was to inspire a sense of care for the food as well as each other, and to reflect on the connections between our bodies, what we eat and the surrounding landscape.

Crossings.

Matter interwoven, mingled, 
a chaos of places, bodies, 
hands, materials, sun and
a hidden moon. 

Clouds passing over
the sky, dreams of seeds
sleeping at night beneath
the cover of the ground. 

Above, a white duck
transforming into a goat,
shedding its long, ancient
horn into your hands. 

Forming a new beginning. 

Natasha Rosling deals with the porous boundaries between the interior spaces of the body and the outside environment. She is fascinating by the ambiguities of what it means to ‘be’ a body, and the connections between emotional and bodily processes. Natasha uses installation, audio and experience design to explore the myriad of ways we make sense of mortality. Natasha has an MA in Arts, Culture and Media Production from Linkoping University, Sweden, and MFA in Fine Art from  Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam.

Vilma Luostarinen is a Swedish artist and food experience designer who has an MA in Narrative Environments from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. She creates menus, meals, installations and workshops that explore how food and eating can nurture more loving ways of coexistence between humans, non-human beings and the earth.

Crossings is one of many creative collaborations between the two artists.