Food Forward: John O’Shea

John O'Shea answers the question: 'Could you tell us a little bit more about Black Market Pudding?'

Or watch on YouTube Stroomdenhaag channel. More movies with John O'Shea: see bottom of this page

15 January - 1 April 2012
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Main page Food Forward: click here


British artist John O'Shea has been working for several years on projects related to the ethics and dilemmas of eating meat. The most prominent of these works is probably the ongoing Meat Licence Proposal project. This project centers on the premise that people who are comfortable with eating meat, should be equally comfortable with killing animals.

John O'Shea proposes a new law; once you've killed an animal you are given a licence to buy meat. Citizens wishing to purchase or consume meat will thus be required to obtain a ‘meat licence' through their specific and supervised engagement in the act of killing an animal. The project documents the legal struggles and uncovers the hypocrisies of the meat industry and public attitudes to meat consumption. Since 2008, The Meat Licence Proposal has operated as an organization working towards the collaborative development of a new kind of law, which would compel individuals to directly engage with the act of killing implicit in animal slaughter.

For Food Forward, O'Shea has developed two works: The Meat Licence Proposal and Black Market Pudding.

The first project consists of audio responses to The Meat Licence Proposal as recorded by O'Shea on Market Street in Manchester (UK). Shoppers on this UK high street were asked to respond to an unusual new law - The Meat Licence Proposal - that would require all citizens wishing to purchase or consume meat to obtain a special licence. These audio fragments are presented alongside corresponding legal documents. The documents support but also sometimes contradict claims that people made in response to the proposal for a new law. The audio files and legal documents are presented through a digital interface, developed in collaboration with Tom Schofield, which allows the gallery visitors to explore gaps between public perception of ‘law' and the actual rights and freedoms of citizens contained within written legal documents past and present.

Black Market Pudding represents a completely novel ethically conscious food product, which is being launched and showcased as part of Food Forward. Presented at Stroom within a refrigerated delicatessen counter, Black Market Pudding is a traditional blood sausage of the UK and Ireland - combining congealed pigs blood with various fats, cereals, herbs and spices - manufactured using blood from a living pig! The pudding is blanched to result in a dark brown colored sausage which is sweet to taste and often served hot as part of a hearty cooked breakfast or cold as an exquisite starter dish.

Black Market Pudding is supported by a robust business plan, ensuring a uniquely fair deal for farmer, animal and consumer. Register your interest online and you will be among the first to be allowed to place advance orders for your own Black Market Pudding in 2012. The pricing structure for Black Market Pudding is such that the producers of the sausage are compensated for the costs associated with breeding and maintaining the animals that are kept outside of the traditional food chain. The consumer pays premium market prices for these delicious puddings in order to provide an unparalleled peace of mind: In purchasing and consuming Black Market Pudding we are keeping the animal from slaughter - no animals are harmed!

More info on The Meat Licence Proposal
www.meatlicence.org.uk


Videos
John O'Shea (1)
John O'Shea answers the question: 'Could you tell us a little bit more about Black Market Pudding?'
See at the top of this page
Or watch on YouTube Stroomdenhaag Channel

John O'Shea (2)
John O'Shea answers the question: 'Is this your first project on the relation between humans and animal food production?'
Or watch on YouTube Stroomdenhaag Channel

John O'Shea (3)
John O'Shea answers the question: 'Would you like Black Market Pudding to become reality?'
Or watch on YouTube Stroomdenhaag Channel

John O'Shea (4)
John O'Shea answers the question: 'How do you see your product related to Fair Trade products for example?'
Or watch on YouTube Stroomdenhaag Channel