feeding and nurturing a fungi cyborg feminist future
„The hymn to Ninkasi is a recipe that is poetry as well as instructions, one that was most probably sung by the brewers while working, honoring the oral tradition of knowledge transmission. Ninkasi is the beer goddess but also the beer itself. For this Web Residency project, I am rewriting this hymn, updating it to a modern language and modernizing its ingredients, images, and processes while trying to keep the poetic and repetitive flow. I want this hymn to pay homage to all the brewsters, priestesses, and witches from the past."
Interview about the work: here
Visit the work online: https://www.brewingsymbioticcare.de
Official documentation of the physical installation along the works of Peggy Pehl: https://schwemme.org/kunstraum/
Hear an excerpt of the hymn (composed by Johannes Grosz):
hymn to the fungi goddesses of beer
Born of the flowing water
Tenderly fed by sweets of all sorts
Born of the optimal matter
Tenderly cared for by the sacred arts
They will find inspiration in the caring mothers
They will find their ways back to our futures
Ninkasi,
Mbaba Mwana Waresa,
Nephthys,
Tenetet,
Brigid of Kildare,
Siduri, Hildegard von Bingen
And Siris among others
They sung their art as they were brewing
That is how we now know what got erased
Those who looked after beer, birth and healing
Those priestesses, alewives and braceresses
Learning from, existing within the invisible
They used the proper containers
Their porous bodies filled with knowledge
Collaborating with mystical powers
They are the ones with the grain mill
The malt, crushed gently
They are the ones bursting with skill
The starch extracted and free
They are the ones with the brew kettle
Working the malt into the water
They are the ones with the hydrometer
Stirring the grains, extracting sugar
A brewing paddle constantly circling
The waves rise, the waves fall
Her hands warmly doing the mashing
The waves rise, the waves fall
Mixing the brew over the lovely fire
Chanting the algorithmic prayer
Guided by her heart and her desire
A shared ritual, becoming together
