Calorie, a year-long exhibit at the Science Gallery Bengaluru, questions our relationship with food

In the 1820s, French scientist Nicolas Clément launched the time period calorie. In the two centuries since, human beings’ and society’s relationship with food has modified drastically. Today the research of food is a complicated topic that includes not solely diet and agriculture, but additionally has geopolitics, know-how, local weather change, caste and gender underneath its umbrella.

Science Gallery Bengaluru unveils a year-long exhibition titled Calorie, that makes use of the lens of artwork to interact and mirror on these topics. Who grows your food? Who will get to eat it? What does it do to your physique? And, how a lot waste does it create? All these dialogues and extra are being mentioned by this exhibition, that’s supported by the Gates Foundation, British Council and MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions.

“We have a strong cultural relationship to food, and food is also an object of scientific research,” says Dr. Jahnavi Phalkey, the founding director of the Science Gallery Bengaluru. “Discussions about food have gained more currency in every domain of our life nowadays. Topics such as the science behind cooking, nutrition, Indian diet fads, and so on. As an informed citizen, whom do I take seriously?” The exhibition is an invite to look past what’s on our plate and to interrogate the techniques, values, and selections that feed us.

Stuff Change, a multisensory inflatable set up about stomachs by
Denisa Pubalova and Lea Luka Sikau
| Photo Credit:
Special association

Some highlights from the exhibition

Spread throughout two flooring of the gallery, Calorie sees works by each worldwide and Indian artists. Parag Kashinath Tandel’s sensory set up, Food as an Archaeological Site: How to prepare dinner Bombay Duck seems at the fish, and the Koli fishing group of Mumbai, its migration patterns and air pollution. The Bombay duck or Bombil fish holds relevance to the area’s historical past. The artist makes use of supplies like fishing gear, silicon rubber and dental plaster to create the work.

Rajyashri Goody’s Don’t Lick It All Up seems at the relationship between food and caste. Using ceramics the artist recreates food, comparable to rice, meat and even earth as food , that’s scavenged or begged for. It is accompanied by Omprakash Valmiki’s guide Joothan, and recipes extracted from Dalit memoirs.

Food as an Archaeological website: How to prepare dinner Bombay Duck, by Parag Kashinath Tandel 
| Photo Credit:
Special association

Orijit Sen’s Mapping Mapusa Market, is an interactive set up about Goa’s historic Mapusa Market. The Goa-based artist showcases the vibrant market by way of the combined media work. Visitors can decide up questions and puzzles, the solutions to that are in the set up. The Museum of Edible Earth is a venture by artist titled Masharu. It seems at the communities round the globe who eat clay or soil. The exhibit has bottles of varied clay varieties that individuals eat. In Ragi.internet artist Surekha explores how Bengaluru’s ragi-growing land has now been transformed to a tech capital. She takes discarded keyboards and installs ragi vegetation in them.

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who’s a board member of the gallery says, “Calorie urges us to rethink how we use resources, grow crops, and adapt to climate change. Like our past work on carbon, it’s a space for young minds and experts to question, experiment, and shape ideas that can influence policy. With the upcoming food lab, we aim to spark curiosity, inspire innovation, and drive a healthier, more sustainable future.”

In the coming yr, Calorie can even see food festivals, movies screenings, workshops and lectures.

The Calorie exhibition will run from August 2025 to July 2026. Entry free, Wednesday to Sunday, 10 AM to six PM. At Bellary Road, Ganganagar. For extra particulars, go to bengaluru.sciencegallery.com