From May 2024 until April 2026, the former seal enclosure of the Amstelpark will be tended to by Zone2Source in collaboration with artist group Genomic Gastronomy. Here, the GENOMIC GASTRONOMY GARDEN (GGG) will grow and harvest edible plants. In this testing garden, Genomic Gastronomy studies the technologies and ecologies of human food systems while tasting and debating the history and future of food. The plants featured in the garden stretch the imagination towards outer space & deep time, while grounding visitors in the here and now through a series of public activities that include community plantings, seed saving workshops, harvest parties, collaborative tastings and interpretive tours.

The first part of the Genomic Gastronomy Garden is the SATELLITE SEED SAVERS garden bed: a large dome made out of willow plants with concentric circles of space seeds planted around the perimeter. It is a site for assembling and distributing off-planet agricultural biodiversity and directing the visitors’ gaze upwards – connecting the plants in the garden to multi-species activities in the sky – while asking questions about the human desire to explore and the biological drive to persist.

During last year’s growing season (2023), Genomic Gastronomy began working with gardeners and researchers around the world to grow, taste, debate and preserve the agricultural biodiversity of outer space. When you visit the SATELLITE SEED SAVERS garden bed, you can find 4 varieties of edible plants that each have an amazing story related to space research. Thinking about human activities in outer space – through the lens of a plant that has travelled there – is also a chance to look down at the earth from far away with a renewed sense of wonder, awe, humility and curiosity. The Genomic Gastronomy Garden wants to connect (inter)planetary imaginaries with terrestrial environmental activities and action.