MSCL Colloquium: Opening up Indoor Vertical Farming – How (not) to Communicate a Novel Food Production System

Dr. Gugganig will discuss how proponents of indoor vertical farming like to herald it as a precise and efficient (urban) food production system that keeps out various nuances, be it pesticides, pathogens, or even humans, as carriers of germs, or imperfect workers that cannot compete with automated systems. This raises the question of what human-plant relations emerge as a result and how to communicate a novel food production system in public spheres when its setup is inherently closed off. Based on findings of a public engagement project, this talk will juxtapose the prominent depiction of vertical farming as a ‘black-boxed’ silver bullet solution for various food and agri-environmental crises with opening up vertical farming as a wider platform for deliberations over the transformation of the contemporary agrifood system.

Dr. Gugganig received her Ph.D. in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University of British Columbia in 2016. She was a Fellow at the Program on Science, Technology & Society at Harvard University and at the Department for Science, Technology & Society at Cornell University, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa. Since Spring 2023, she has been a Lecturer (akademische Rätin) at the Chair of Life Sciences in Society and an Affiliated Researcher at the Rachel Carson Center, both at the University of Munich (LMU), and she continues to be a Research Associate at the Department of STS at TU Munich.

This is an online event carried out in English. However, questions in German are also welcomed. We look forward to your participation in our lively after-talk discussion! Please register here in advance:
https://lmu-munich.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/u5Mpcu6rqzwsHNWeW8_MHfmn64VCP6tlsFMF

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