Den goda maten – The Benevolent Food

Ten artists, researchers and curators from different parts of the planet will gather in Giron/Kiruna to kick off Den goda maten in August 2025. The inquiry will evolve over the coming years, through commissions, screenings, events and publications with invited artists including Åsa Sonjasdotter, Cooking Sections, Elia Nurvista, Fernando García-Dory and INLAND, Keg de Souza, Kultivator, Myvillages, Olga Tsaplya Egorova, Natalia Shapkina, Victoria Harnesk and curators Madeleine Collie and Maria Lind. Den goda maten is part of Kin’s multiyear enquiry The Critical Zone.

Food nourishes and beyond daily sustenance, it brings us joy, offers connection and maintains human labours. It is deeply connected to our sense of self and identity. But there are also darker sides to food, feeding and eating: in the context of intensifying violent crises in the world and accelerating climate change, questions of food security are becoming more urgent. How do our food habits affect not only our bodies but the planet too? In grappling with this question, self-sustenance and new ways of eating have come to the fore, as are indigenous and traditional forms of knowledge surrounding food. They are recognised as crucial to past, present and future food sovereignty.

The Swedish word ‘god’ means both delicious and good; in translating it as ‘benevolent’, we draw attention to the interdependent relationships between bodies and land in the cultivation of food. At the same time benevolence suggests something darker, because something that is offered can just as freely be taken away. To speak of food as a benevolent gesture is to ask; how do we recognise and participate in reciprocal actions towards places, people and more-than-human lives that sustain us often over great distances?

August Gathering 2025

The August gathering for Den Goda Maten brought together artists to Kin Musuem of Contemporary Art with the Food Art Research Network for the beginning of our collective exploration of food and practice. The programme began with a workshop led by Myvillages, where all the artists introduced themselves through food, bringing an ingredient or dish from their place of departure.

Across the following days in and around Kiruna, the group moved between collective learning, public engagement and site-based encounters. A walk through old Kiruna with Agneta Andersson explored the ongoing displacement of communities becuase of the expanding iron ore mine. This was followed by a public session at the museum where artists shared their research and we viewed Åsa Sonjasdotter’s film Cultivating Abundance. Informal exchanges continued over a potluck dinner at Maria Lind’s home, sharing food that we cooked and brought from afar.

Field visits deepened engagement with local ecologies and Sámi knowledge. The group foraged for berries with Kerstin Nilsson of Ofelas in Puoltsa, and cooked bread over a fire. We learnt about the layers of abundance that are cultivated by the reindeers pastures. We visited Nikkaluokta to learn from Anne Sari about Sámi food culture, she shared books and resources collected over years and the struggle to maintain the herding way of life. With the Sarri family we  travelled by boat to the waters of lake Paittasjärvi connected to the nearby glacier. Visits to Samegården Sámi Museum, Jukkasjärvi homestead museum, the church and Nutti Sámi Siida provided cultural context and learning. Throughout, discussions focused on the politics of food in the region, thinking and eating together what is grown, gathered, traded and transported considering that  food systems are shaped by environment, culture and migrations.