mussel beach – cooking sections

The London-based duo Cooking Sections (Daniel Fernández Pascual and Alon Schwabe) examines the ecosystem of the Los Angeles coastline in a site-specific intervention at Venice Beach. Mussel Beach, a play on the culture of fitness and exhibitionism associated with Venice, contemplates the state of the Pacific Ocean through the lens of food, specifically mussels, which act as filters of pollution but are disappearing along the shores of Venice because of climate change. Building on Cooking Sections’ earlier research-based projects examining the climate’s impact on eating and well-being, Mussel Beach is conceived as an experimental intervention that reconsiders our understanding of sustainable ecology and its future.

Through a series of mixed-media interventions along the beach—ranging from itinerant performative acts, installations on the boardwalk, public food tastings, and a choreographed audio tour of the beach—Mussel Beach meditates on the connections between the health and fitness industry and the consequences of human activity on the natural landscape. The work aims to connect the origins of the gymnasium as a space that cultivates both the body and the mind. Visitors to Mussel Beach are guided through a site-specific audio tour in the form of a workout routine that takes them through a carefully choreographed journey. Developed from research informed by interviews with local experts, the audio narrative moves across the fields of marine biology, environmental studies, water policy, food research, material engineering, bodybuilding, and everyday Venice life.