Workshop and exhibition of speculative design "Speculative Kitchens"

10/03 2026

Workshop and exhibition of speculative design “Speculative Kitchens”

Metamedij Association, in collaboration with the Department of Visual Communications Design (Academy of Arts in Split), Istrian University of Applied Sciences and METRIS Research Centre, organised a speculative design workshop titled Speculative Kitchens: A Workshop on Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Speculative Design. The workshop was held from 2 to 6 March at the Novo Gallery in Pula, under the mentorship of Laura Rodriguez and Daria Testo.

The theme of the workshop was the kitchen as a site of epistemological aerobics. In this “speculative laboratory,” human and more-than-human metabolisms intertwined. The result is a body of work by 12 artists — participants of the five-day workshop — who explored different perspectives on cooking, smelling, fermenting, moving, and tasting. Each activity became a critical and creative act in which heritage, rituals, and scientific methodologies are treated as tools for giving voice to plants and bacteria. The opening of the exhibition “Speculative Kitchens” took place on Friday, 6 March at 7 p.m. at Novo Gallery in Pula.