Space Permaculture is a research initiative that collects and imagines experiments in off-planet agroecology.
What are the crops, conditions and ethics required to maintain life off of planet Earth? What would an unsterilized and messy extraterrestrial agriculture look like?—one that makes room for the microbes, “pests”, and decomposers with whom we co-exist.
Space Permaculture asks about the who, what and why of permanent human cultures and permanent agricultures off the planet Earth. Permanent implies regenerative systems and processes that can renew themselves over time. However, most imaginaries about growing and eating in space apply a reductivist and engineering mindset—attempting to engineer and optimize linear systems in extraterrestrial environments that are hostile and unforgiving to terrestrial life. Space Permaculture utilizes a different set of metaphors, heuristics and stories in order to generate images and models that are non-linear, intertwined and include seemingly non-essential passengers. Space Permaculture is about directing our gaze up towards the heavens and down towards the soil, and making connections between the two. It is a chance to look down at the earth from far away with a renewed sense of wonder, awe, humility and curiosity. Is there a connection between (inter)planetary imaginaries and terrestrial environmental movements?
Space Permaculture was featured as an installation in the exhibition Sitopia as part of Beijing Design Week, hosted by Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences and curated by Diane Xing. The installation was composed of three Space Permaculture artworks by Genomic Gastronomy: Satellite Seed Savers, Planetary Crop Rotation, and Food Phreaking Issue 4.5: Space Seeds.