BURO MISO

A role for miso in transitions

Arne Hendriks and Rabobank present BURO MISO, an investigation into making and eating fermented bean paste as a form of positive change and the desire for less. Operating from the pavilion BURO MISO, artist and designer Arne Hendriks explores with visitors what role miso can play in various transitions: the protein transition, the energy transition, the healthcare transition, and perhaps even the transition to a human being living freely and prosperously within the limits of planetary possibilities. The project is a collaboration with miso maker Marika Groen and professor Cor van der Weele.

The potential of miso

Arne Hendriks became fascinated by miso during a visit to the Japanese island of Okinawa where he was served a bowl of miso soup for breakfast. He fell in love with the intense taste, the complete nutritional value, the beauty of the production process, and the myriad ways miso gives flavour to life. But above all, he was impressed by the spiritual and storytelling properties and potential that miso has to help humans embrace radical change.

New perspective on growth and shrinkage

To develop new perspectives, we need different metaphors, a different language and different practices; perhaps miso can help us a little along the way. To support that process, BURO MISO is an exhibition, research, miso tasting, workshop space, and practice space/clubhouse/consulate for a network of miso lovers. With BURO MISO, we concretise the step back (shrinkage) by moving from animal to vegetable protein and flavour. It gives both practical and symbolic shape to the idea of less. Arne Hendriks was a DDW ambassador in 2014 and won a Dutch Design Award in 2013 with his project 'The Incredible Shrinking Man'. Hendriks' work is a collective artistic exercise in desire for positive change. Since 2018, he has collaborated with Rabobank in an in-depth investigation into the social and economic consequences of our relationship with notions of growth and shrinkage. BURO MISO is part of the Embassy of Food programme during Dutch Design Week and can be found on the Ketelhuisplein.