Digesting Tubes: An Exhibition Exploring Food Design and Human Adaptation for a Sustainable Future

Digesting Tubes is an exhibition by artist and future food designer Chloé Rutzerveld, exploring the complex relationship between humans and food, particularly in the context of the global food crisis. It challenges visitors to consider how humans might adapt to food rather than constantly altering food for human consumption.

Digesting Tubes is a thought-provoking art installation by future food designer Chloé Rutzerveld, showcased in the West Hall of the ARTIS-Groote Museum. The exhibition addresses the pressing global food crisis, often approached by modifying food itself to be larger, juicier, or easier to produce. Rutzerveld, however, explores an audacious alternative: adapting human biology to food. She invites visitors to reconsider the efficiency of our digestive systems and our dietary habits in an installation that pushes the boundaries of biological and design thinking. Chloé Rutzerveld, an industrial designer known for her work on a 3D-printed edible vegetable garden, has consistently researched the future of food. In 'Digesting Tubes,' she delves into the concept of the human digestive system as a 'tube from mouth to butt,' where food transforms into energy. This installation presents three speculative scenarios, from developing an extra organ to modifying human DNA or introducing bacterial shots, all designed to make us more efficient herbivores. Rutzerveld challenges visitors to confront their willingness to change for a more sustainable planet and to critically examine their own internal processes.