Cooking Sections & Sakiya at Inverleith House

In The Eddy Of The Stream

Cooking Sections & Sakiya

Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

1st July - 18th September 2022

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‍In the Eddy of the Stream draws attention to the breakdown of ecosystems through the removal of plants and the ensuing long-term harm to people, communities, and other species. The exhibition brings together the work of Cooking Sections and Sakiya who create their own eddies; sheltered areas where water flows back upstream against the current. The different works stimulate debate and offer tools for addressing historical damage and the resulting ecological crisis.

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Through the lens of plants and the politics embedded in their growth, containment and conservation, this exhibition stems from the history of land struggles in Scotland and Palestine. ‘A fish from the river, a staff from the forest, a deer from the mountain’ (from Gaelic: breac à linne, slat à coille ‘s fiadh à fìreach) has long captured the fight against the enclosure of common land, and yet the thinking behind this saying seems more critical than ever. The different projects on display forge new alliances between humans and other species across changing territories. The installations, performances and materials in this exhibition challenge how botany has been used as a mechanism of control and how it might identify new horizons. From the banning of foraging practices to rewilding and waste-landing debates, In the Eddy of the Stream puts forward new ways of understanding and repositioning ourselves.

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As part of the exhibition, Oyster Readings is a performance and installation that uses oysters to better understand the environment, ecology, history and future of the coasts of Scotland. This artwork has been developed by Cooking Sections to take place within the exhibition In the Eddy of the Stream. Like fortune tellers reading the palm of the hand, Oyster Readings foresee the future of the coast through the ridged surface of an oyster shell, allowing you to read into our common oyster futures.

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Oyster Readings runs from 1 July to 18 September on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 1:30 - 5:30pm.

The exhibition is curated by Emma Nicolson and supported by ”la Caixa” Foundation, Gaia Art Foundation, Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation, National Lottery Community Fund, The Highland Coastal Communities Fund, and the Henry Moore Foundation