Frugales #2, from October 25-28 2018, in Paris

Frugales offers experiments that involve food production and resources from the agricultural world. We meet producers and craftsmen to collect gestures and stories that represent the cultural, technical and gustatory state of our meals. Once we get back to the studio, we work with this material – images, interviews, videos and objects – in resonance with our own expertise. We give these resources new ground for expression by questioning their shape or by updating old techniques.

For this first experiment, we explore the manufacturing of butter and the know-how of Erwann Le Creff, a milk and butter producer in Carnoët. Butter is an ambivalent resource: a metaphor for simplicity and wealth, a basic product and a refined dish. It is the source of various of practices, be they medical, culinary or sacred.

The event Frugales is a moment of sharing with the public. It highlights the semantic and gustatory possibilities of this product. The agricultural tools are projected at the centre of the table, transformed into unusual and poetic tasting products. We trace the product chain back to its stages and display them during the meal. The installation is a space for debate and collective reflection, promoting simple and economical know-how and revealing its sensitive and cultural richness.

Julie Brugier is currently pursuing a PhD at PSL University, in the Reflective Interaction Research group of EnsadLab. For this project, she worked with the video maker Anna Talec.