Future Protein integrates mussels' ecological benefits into the food system by developing a remote-sensing model for mussel farms and designing adaptive rituals for rising sea levels.
Mussels provide multiple benefits: they filter water, absorb nitrogen, phosphorus, and CO₂, enhance biodiversity, and are highly nutritious. Yet, despite these advantages, their role in EU food culture remains minor, with production limited and costly.
In 2024, the natural credits policy was introduced in select countries. While still under evaluation, this system could revitalise the stagnant market by creating new opportunities to support mussel farms as both profitable and sustainable enterprises.
To address this, Future Protein developed Mussel ID, a remote-sensing model that predicts mussel farm viability based on environmental conditions and nutritional value. This tool helps expand mussel farming while ensuring ecological and food production alignment. It also provides insights into climate adaptation, including rising sea levels and global warming.
The project explored aquatic foraging and developed innovative recipes to integrate mussels into our culture. At our food-sharing event at Studio Other Spaces and Olafur Eliasson Studio, we introduced three unique mussel-based recipes.
Using AI, generative design, and 3D printing, we experimented with mussel-shell-based materials to store carbon and nitrogen, embedding waste management into adaptive rituals. During the event, guests took home two material cubes, each representing the footprint of their meal, while shells were collected to repurpose into a sculpture capturing our ecological impact.
Envisioning a shift from agriculture to aquaculture, the project examined how future communities could centre around mussel farming, adapting food production to environmental changes. This approach can extend to other foods, assessing their value beyond nutrition and economics to include their ecological footprint.
CREDITS:
Artist: IMA-Studio: Katya Bryskina, Nataly Khadziakova;
Art-driven innovation: In4Art
Science: Brno University of Technology
Digital Prototype: Dev. team: Natalie Mezhetskaya, Artem Konevskikh
Objects were 3D printed with support from CRA Carlo Ratti Associati and Space Caviar.
Menu in collaboration with Kin Dee
Mussel farm C.E.S.I.T, Tuscany
Videographer: Angel Li
The HUNGRY ECOCITIES project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under a grant agreement
101069990.