Cooking Sections residency: THE ‘NEXT “INVASIVE” IS “NATIVE”

During their residency at the CCA, Cooking Sections will be working on their forthcoming project THE ‘NEXT “INVASIVE” IS “NATIVE”’.

The project explores so-called invasive species; plants, fungi, or animals that are non-native to a specific location and have a tendency to spread to a degree that is believed to cause severe damage to the environment, economy or human health. For centuries both human and non-human migration discourses have traditionally used the figure of the ‘non-native’ or ‘the alien’ as a negative input for local context. THE ‘NEXT “INVASIVE” IS “NATIVE”’ suggests to invert this logic by thinking of ‘the alien’ as an entity that actually constructs a new reality and brings valuable cultural hybridisation. Scotland’s unprecedented legislation on non-native species, The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 (Commencement No. 4, Savings and Transitional Provisions), actually opened the basis for discussion on mobilities across borders. Being the first country in Europe to pass such a law, it focuses on means of prevention rather than cure. It also identifies five main offences that prevent from allowing or releasing animals, or actively planting or spreading plants, in an environment that is considered ‘non-native’ to them. THE ‘NEXT “INVASIVE” IS “NATIVE”’ sets itself in what is now a deeply rooted imported Italian tradition of making and serving ice-cream in Glasgow. The project uses ice-cream parlours as the platform to think about the ice-cream of the future; an ice-cream that is not made out of strawberry or vanilla, but an ice-cream that puts ‘invasive’ species at the forefront. Cooking Sections is initiating a city wide competition for the best 'invasive' ice cream.

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THE ‘NEXT “INVASIVE” IS “NATIVE”’ is a new commission for The Pokey Hat - a project exploring the socio-political history of Glasgow through its ice cream trade, curated by VERBureau as part of Glasgow International 2016. The project is developed as part of The Empire Remains. Excerpts from the working process will be available online from mid February at www.empireremains.net.