Workshop: Rehearsing Sonic Cookbook #1
The first edition of the Sonic Cookbook took shape through a collaborative process held in Umeå from 18 to 30 April 2026, at the invitation of the curator Maria Kamilla Larsen.

The workshop consisted of three phases: Workshop invitation and outline
Part I: Listening: Collective cooking
Part II: Recipe as a score for rehearsing the unfinishing
Part III: Resonating body

How the Sonic Cookbook #1 took shape
“The project brought together Sámi cultural producer Ellacarin Blind, students from the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå-based professional artists, visiting researchers working on questions related to health in Indigenous communities, and other local participants for a three-day collaborative workshop.

As part of the workshop, Ellacarin shared recipes and led a cooking session in which reindeer soup, wild-caught Arctic char, and pancakes made with reindeer blood were prepared — dishes rooted in the food traditions she grew up with in her family of reindeer herders.

The aim of the project was to continue Yujin Jung’s artistic exploration of loss through her method of Sonic Fabulation, situating the inquiry within a new biological and cultural landscape. In Umeå, the workshop began with Ellacarin’s introduction to her cultural heritage, followed by the collective cooking session. Together, we approached the kitchen as a sensory and social space through touch, smell, taste and listening. For many participants, this was their first encounter with traditional Sámi ingredients and food practices.

Through cooking and dining together, participants shared reflections on how changing living conditions, displacement, disappearing landscapes, and the human impulse to separate ourselves from nature give rise to forms of unfinished loss that shape everyday life. Food cultures are one of the places where these transformations and tensions are apparent. Within the workshop, we acknowledged the histories, continuities, and transformations connected to Sámi food culture.

Throughout the workshop, the kitchen became a temporary living archive of stories, voices, smells and tastes. The first day was recorded with a range of microphones and listening devices, and this sonic material served as the point of departure for the second phase of the process. Sounds from the cooking session were developed into a sound work, while conversations and reflections took shape as texts and fragments collected in a zine.

A dedicated group of local art students took the initiative to continue developing the work beyond the workshop itself. The result was a beautifully crafted silk-screen-printed zine, accompanied by a QR code linking to the collective sound piece.

I am deeply inspired by the way this project unfolded. It succeeded as an experimental collaborative process in which new connections and friendships were formed, stories and memories were shared, and artistic ideas could be developed and realised together.”

Excerpt from Maria Kamilla Larsen’s project report letter.

The soundtrack co-produced by workshop participants.

The space was kindly provided by the collective project space Stället in Umeå, and the silk-screen print was held at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts.
The project was supported by Culture Moves Europe, a mobility fund from the Goethe Institute.