The Incantation of Edibles
This project employs design fiction, speculative narrative, and critical design to expose and interrogate the hidden "theology" of contemporary consumerism within urban food systems by reimagining supermarkets as a place of worship.
Project by Saipreethi Durairaman
Supervised by Rick Schifferstein, TUD, and Jignesh Khakhar, National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar, India
A series of four interactive wearable installations representing deities challenges the passive consumption habits fostered by meticulously designed supermarket environments and food packaging. By transforming the mundane act of grocery shopping into a quasi-religious ritual, the project aims to stimulate critical awareness regarding the provenance, impact, and manipulation behind our daily food choices.
Each deity embodies a distinct aspect of modern food consumption:
- The Processed One critiques convenience-driven processed foods.
- The Rising Divine highlights the industrialization of baked goods.
- The Fresh Plastic Spirit symbolizes excessive plastic packaging and the deceptive notion of freshness.
- The Pure Guardian satirises ethical consumerism, questioning the true sustainability and accessibility of so-called “pure” products and the corporate interests behind them.
Action is driven by hope. Instead of merely presenting grim statistics or dystopian futures, the project uses humor, irony, and direct interaction to compel audiences to critically examine their existing food behaviors and the systems influencing them. It disavows passive hope that problems will resolve themselves, opting instead to activate individual agency. By making the invisible mechanisms of consumer manipulation visible and palpable, the project aims to transform abstract concerns into concrete moments of personal realization, inspiring tangible shifts in consumer choices and a more proactive engagement with the politics of food. The visceral and often uncomfortable experience serves as a direct call to move beyond complacency towards informed and responsible action.
Image credits: Nivedita Singh.
