What’s that fish doing in the exhibition? That is what some visitors may have thought upon discovering an aquarium in the URBAN FOOD & DESIGN section in the Festival Headquarters. This was part of a home aquaponics construction kit, which combines the breeding of fish in aquaculture and the cultivation of crops through hydroculture. The system was overseen by the artist and designer Julian Stadon, who offered festival visitors a hands-on demonstration of how a closed loop system works. In addition to this, he also took over the festival’s own pop-up kitchen in the courtyard from off plate for a whole afternoon. He took this opportunity to show how to correctly kill and prepare tilapia as well as to present further regional and homemade ingredients from his own garden.

The exhibited Aquaponics Kit was part of the initiative TeleAgriCulture, an open community project that brings together artists, designers, farmers, and DIY enthusiasts. In addition to providing information about and opportunities to exchange ideas on the issue of sustainable urban food production (“Put the culture back into agriculture!”), the crowd- and cloud-based platform also offers individualized sensing kits with accompanying apps for home use.