The pink thread between climate change and the colour of salmon

From 27 November 2020 to 28 February 2021 the installation “Salmon: A Red Herring” will be on view at Tate Britain in London. Realised by Cooking Sections within the “CLIMAVORE” project, the installation is part of the ART NOW programme promoted by Tate Britain and focused on emerging art.

Cooking Sections is a duo formed in 2013 by Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe, based in London. Through installation, performance, mapping and video, Cooking Sections explores “the systems that organise the world through food”. “Salmon: A Red Herring” reflects on the changing colour of species, indicative of the ongoing environmental crisis. The fictitious ‘salmon-pink’ colour is not the actual colour of the fish but comes from a synthetic pigment fed to farmed salmons. The installation encourages people to reflect on the interrelation between colour, natural environment and climate change. To support the project and its cause, Tate has permanently removed farmed salmon from all its food outlets, replacing it with ingredients that promote regenerative aquaculture.

“Salmon: A Red Herring” is part of Cooking Sections’ long-term “CLIMAVORE” project. Launched in 2015 with the aim of exploring the link between the way people eat and the climate crisis, “CLIMAVORE” partners with experts in ecology, marine biology, agronomy, nutrition and engineering.