Futurefarmers, Loseter (Flatbread Society)

One of two public projects developed as part of our curatorial vision for public art at Bjørvika, Oslo harbour, San Francisco-based artist Amy Franceschini and Futurefarmers established Flatbread Society in 2013 – a growing group of people working towards the development of Loseter, a public oven, cultivated grain field and sustained public programming in Bjørvika, Oslo.

Using the compelling proposition of a permanent Bakehouse for Bjørvika, Futurefarmers sought out the hidden networks of bakeries and urban food production, environmental activists and farmers across Oslo, listening and researching, delighting in the divergent forms of and facilities for making flatbread.

From May-June 2013, Flatbread Society established a temporary presence to test out the function, form and community of the Bakehouse. Its provisional aesthetic contrasted starkly with the surrounding construction site: the hand-made meeting tables and tools, its radio station Ramona, the tandoor and flatbread ovens, an canoe oven (above), a telescope rolling pin and shelter structure – served to insert make-shift production into the highly planned and controlled public space of the new Bjørvika. This is a field station operating through a spirit of readiness. Through Flatbread Society, Futurefarmers offer an alternative approach to the design and builds methodology of urban design, creating a space in which we might actively contribute to the life of our public spaces through a captivating idea.