The Spacex is presenting the next step in community cookbooks – a tradition which has apparently been around since the 15th century – with an exhibition of The Recipe Exchange, an ongoing project by artist Helen Pritchard, which has been developed off-site and online since September 2010 in consultation with residents of two villages in East Devon.
The Recipe Exchange project draws on the community cookbook tradition, through which information was shared socially, and expands the idea of what a recipe can be – residents of Farringdon and Woodbury Salterton have been encouraged to exchange their practical skills.
Together with the artist, the residents of the towns who took part have developed an on and offline archive of tacit ‘know-how’, which in itself provides a common resource for residents to discover, share and reuse knowledge in order to build, make and work together.
The exhibition will re-present a range of interesting ‘recipes’ in the form of events and artefacts.
Visitors will be encouraged to contribute, read, modify and take home ‘recipes’ that offer ‘how-to’ instructions. ‘Recipes’ will cover a range of practical applications including cloning plants, negotiating with land-owners and making clay pipes.
• The Recipe Exchange, Share Your Know-How is at the Spacex, Exeter from Saturday, May 14 to Saturday, July 9
