is a more-than-human collective and trans-local food
studio. Founded by Austrian
designer Philipp Kolmann andDutch artist Suzanne Bernhardt.
Currently, ERBA is reviving ancient techniques for food preservation and storage through an installation at Ornamenta 2024 (DE) and a permanent public art work for Dogo Residenz für Neue Kunst and Toggenburg Tourism (CH) to be opened in 2025.
In addition, ERBA is researching orchard culture and forgotten fruit trees for Nova Gorica and Gorizia, European Capital of Culture 2025 (SI) in collaboration with Robida Collective (IT). In addition, ERBA offers consulting services to those in need and develops workshops and educational programs for organisations in various areas, such as Design Campus Dresden (DE), Plantahof School of Agriculture (CH) or Tourismus Region Klagenfurt (AT).
Past work includes “Ears of Earth” (2022), an eight-course vegan dining experience ancient old grasses and traditional fermentation techniques for Mediamatic (NL) and Studio Makkink & Bey (NL); “Feeding Fields, Moving Meadows” (2023) an all-inclusive breakfast buffet investigating Alpine cereal culture presented at Food Culture Days (CH), Museum Mühlerama during Zurich Food Days (CH), Dutch Design Week (NL) and at Tage der Alpen-Adria-Küche (AT); as well as “The Archive of Alpine Olfactory Memories” (2019), a permanent collection of lost Alpine scents and tastes with Somalgors74 (CH).
Image from 'Proyect Name', Year 2024. Credits to Photographer's Name.
Image from 'Proyect Name', Year 2024. Credits to Photographer's Name.
The work of ERBA manifests in different scales, temporalities and forms. From the size of a menu to the space in which it is served; from ephemeral tastings to permanent interventions; ERBA gives shape to a variety of site-specific projects that each bring forth the unique qualities of a context.
So far, the trans-local food studio has developed projects with institutions and organisations from different fields of practice, all of them united in their dedication to and love for the land that feeds them.
Much like the seasons, ERBA returns to places and creates lasting relationships with the people that inhabit them. This allows ERBA to build trust and intimate knowledge over time.
As a more-than-human collective, ERBA fosters alliances between collaborators across species and disciplines to allow for the cross-pollination of perspectives and ideas.
Evolving like an interdependent ecosystem based on mutual respect, nourishment and growth, ERBA offers time and space to linger, listen and learn - from the land and each other.
In doing so, ERBA follows communities, cultures and traditions all along the food chain and is a regular guest on fields and meadows, orchards and gardens, rivers and lakes, farms and factories - lending an ear to our tongues and fingers, noses and bellies through which embodied encounters and new aftertastes become possible.
If you want to read more about ERBA’s approach follow this text by X...
The Common Table / Dairy Non-Dairy
Preserve journal / Grass Gathering
Klima Kultur / Dem Boden zuhören (german)
A list of our collaborators, including farmers, photographers, graphic designers, writers, anthropologists, microbiologists, bakers, editorial designers,and more.
(text will be replaced by list of names)
In doing so, ERBA follows communities, cultures and traditions all along the food chain and is a regular guest on fields and meadows, orchards and gardens, rivers and lakes, farms and factories - lending an ear to our tongues and fingers, noses and bellies through which embodied encounters and new aftertastes become possible.
Philipp Kolmann has a background in design and worked as a chef, shepard and artisanal cheesemaker. He grew up on the foot of the Julian Alps, embedded between the pastures and lakes of Carinthia and the intimate knowledge his grandmother passed on to him about both. Philipp contributes to ERBA with his attention to things big and small, years of experience and the ability to imagine ways of sharing it with others. … as well as an unwavering dedication to creating the conditions for life to flourish.
Suzanne Bernhardt is an artist, maker and milling apprentice, embracing the strong winds and changing tides of the Northern lowlands as witnesses of a transformation that is both at times slow and fast. She weaves together grasses much like the insights she has been collecting throughout her travels near and far striving to understand the complex relationships we are entangled with on this earth.
