One of the most important contexts of modern catalysis science is agriculture. The production of food depends systematically on products of catalysis: Via the Haber-Bosch process, but also via fuels, pesticides and herbicides, a cultural technique to collect solar energy switched into a technique to invest fossil energy and chemical technology into proteins and carbon hydrates - to put it blantly. Change in agriculture needs to address this - and it will again need catalysis products and research.
What do we use our agricultural products and farmland for? For food production or for fuel and energy generation? The Werkleitz-Festival "Tank oder Teller" at Halle/Saale discusses the ambivalent and complex energy regimes of agriculture, using artistic and scientific positions. The festival in 2024 is a prelude to "Planetary Peasents" Saxony-Anhalt's huge exhibition in 2025 to celebrate 500 years of the German Peasants War.
From UniSysCat postdoc Dr. Benjamin Steininger was involved at "Tank oder Teller" as a consultant and co-curator of some parts of the exhibition.
The Werkleitz Festival opens on May 31 at 7 pm and runs until June 9 in Halle/Saale. The exhibition is open daily from 11 am to 7 pm. More on the program can be found here: https://tank-oder-teller.werkleitz.de/programm
Soundbite by Benjamin Steininger on the exhibition in a Deutschlandradio report: www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/tank-oder-teller-festival-zum-kuenftigen-umgang-mit-ackerflaechen-dlf-kultur-809432bf-100.html