Opening Reception: Those Who Nourish, Three Year Sustainability Project Culmination

SPACES is proud to announce the culminating exhibition of To Those Who Nourish, a three-year environmental sustainability and socially engaged art initiative developed in partnership with UK-based artist duo Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe). The exhibition opens June 27, 2025, and a day-long public expo is scheduled for August 16, 2025 —a celebratory event centered around art, sustainable agriculture, and climate justice.

Founded in 1978, SPACES has long served as a platform for experimental artists whose work engages with pressing social and environmental issues. To Those Who Nourish exemplifies this mission by uniting contemporary art and ecological action to confront agricultural runoff and its devastating impact on Lake Erie.

Supported by generous funding from the Teiger Foundation, SPACES has partnered over the past three years with six regional farms: Chateau Hough, City Fresh, Yellow House Cheese & Meats, Living City Farms, Vel’s Purple Oasis, and Hood Honey. This final phase of the project highlights the vital contributions of these farms through a focused exhibition at SPACES, showcasing collaborative efforts to adopt phosphorus-free, regenerative farming practices. These methods reduce harmful runoff into Lake Erie, mitigating toxic algae blooms and hypoxic “dead zones” caused by conventional fertilizers.

First launched during the 2022 FRONT International Triennial, To Those Who Nourish began with Cooking Sections’ installation of two symbolic oxygenating fountains on Lake Erie—an evocative call to action underscoring the urgent need to address phosphorus pollution at its source. Since then, SPACES has led a multi-phase, community-centered initiative to elevate local farmers and support sustainable food systems.

Renowned for their ongoing CLIMAVORE project and nominated for the 2021 Turner Prize, Cooking Sections use food systems to examine the ecological and geopolitical forces shaping our world. Though their work has appeared in major exhibitions globally, To Those Who Nourish marks their first project in the Great Lakes region.

The closing sustainability expo at SPACES on August 16, 2025 / 12:00 - 5:30 PM is also generously sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.