The Food and Art Alternative MA (altMA) is a two-year programme that explores food practices as political and cultural subjects within contemporary art. Combining weekly online seminars with five ten-day international residencies, the course supports interdisciplinary research, collective inquiry, and sustained project development.
Positioning food at the intersection of culinary histories, socially engaged art, political discourse, and ecological action, the altMA examines how food operates as a site of power, memory, labour, and speculation. The curriculum moves across food politics, curatorial studies, historical analysis, and contemporary artistic practice, encouraging critical reflection and experimental methodologies.
Teaching is primarily delivered online through lectures, guest presentations, peer-led discussions, group critiques, and individual tutorials. Each term, the cohort convenes for a ten-day residency focused on practice-based research, workshops, and fieldwork. Confirmed locations include Amsterdam (with Mediamatic), Mexico City (with colectivo amasijo), and Madrid. These residencies are central to deepening collective bonds and advancing individual and collaborative projects. Throughout the programme, participants receive targeted support through one-to-one tutorials and peer cross-crits. In the second year, the cohort develops an optional collective public presentation of their research, which may take the form of a dinner, exhibition, publication, screening, or other experimental format.
The altMA cultivates a committed learning community grounded in trust, critical engagement, and shared inquiry, bringing together practitioners and thinkers invested in food as a medium for artistic, social, and ecological transformation.
Important dates:
01 Feb – Food and Art altMA applications open
15 Mar – Food and Art altMA applications close
31 May – altMA places offered and enrolment
01 Jul – Pre-entry materials sent
18 Sep – Course begins with a residency in Mediamatic (Amsterdam)
For further information, please visit: www.thegramounce.com
Instagram: @thegramounce
Email: kitchen@thegramounce.com