Together with Tofe Al-Obaidi and Sophie van der Sman we built a data installation of Arnhem through food by using the official website “Arnhem in Numbers” to collect the percentages of different nationalities residing in the city.
To visualize the findings, we reached out to our broad international circle of friends to collect personal data and merge the objective with the subjective. We chose an ingredient to represent each nation by asking one question to the 40 people from the 40 nations composing Arnhem: “What are some traditional ingredients in your country’s cuisine?”
The methodology used to translate residents’ percentages into food is 0,1% = 1 g, as each ingredient represents one country and its weight is directly proportional to the official number of people from that ethnic group. The installation’s goal is to visualize data in a new way, to be a game, an olfactory experience, a conversation-starter about food, borders, heritages, and communities. We were able to put together people’s stories about culture, data, and diversity in a way to better represent our city. These are the Ingredients of Arnhem.
This project has been selected for the 25th edition of the Chaumont Graphic Design Biennale 2021. It won the “Mention spéciale” during the biennial’s student contest.
