The Plan of Going Home | Pickle Workshop
Event Background:
During the social research conducted at our station in early 2025, we interviewed people from different workshops and factories. What they often mentioned was, "Young people don't like to eat this,only older people like it." Some young people who passed by and smelled the aroma had never seen or tasted it before. They inquired with curiosity and doubt. However, pickles have always had a special meaning for me: as a child, I didn't like them either. I don't know how they came to be, why they grow this way, or why they have this particular aroma. It was only in recent years that I learned about the method and principle of fermenting pickles.
I believe I am not the only one who has doubts about this. In the vast market, it's not just the small items that are overlooked. Therefore, in this workshop, I aim to introduce the unique scents and shapes of Wenzhou. Firstly, let's temporarily set aside our taste buds and experience these ingredients through sight, smell, touch, and hearing. We will observe and create with them as a new material.
When I consider the participants for the workshop, I warmly welcome friends who are curious and open-minded, aged 14 and above. We always retain a childlike innocence, embracing all possibilities. I hope this event can bring everyone a little more experience than their daily lives, and that will be enough.
--Gao Qizhen
Since Gao Qizhen is still stationed in Germany, He Oumiao will be the keynote speaker for this art and education event.
Artist Introduction：
Gao Qizhen (born in 1998 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang) currently works and lives in Berlin, Germany. Through slow and repetitive handcrafting, she transforms decaying and neglected materials into intimate visual narratives, interweaving emotions, family ethics, and self-identity. By intertwining everyday family craftsmanship with fleeting and perishable materials, she invites viewers to indulge in their inner desires, rifts from the past, and moments of inspiration in the present.
Introduction to the keynote speaker：
He Oumiao graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London with a Master's degree, specializing in Art and Education. She also holds a Bachelor's degree from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, where she studied Fine Art Photography.
After living with her friends, she began to observe and learn how to cook food, while reminiscing about the dishes made by her grandmother. When she felt stressed, she found that kneading dough was a good way to relax. She enjoys collecting food and tableware shapes. She walks around, records, and observes the impromptu creations of strangers on the roadside.
Event Process:
"Fresh vegetables, salty vegetables"
Salty Vegetable Art Workshop
Objectives:
• Understand the origins of common salty vegetables in Wenzhou and compare them with their original vegetable forms.
• Explore what "smell", "strange" and "beautiful" are through five senses experience.
• Create works using vegetables and salty vegetables, and complete a canvas together.
Recruitment:
• Interested in "smelly" food, salty vegetables.
• Enjoy playing with food.
• Willing to share your thoughts.
Event Content:
Part 1:
Understanding Pickles & Fresh Vegetables
• Gao Qizhen shares her life experiences related to "stinky" and pickles.
• Everyone discusses and shares their experiences with stinky foods.
Part 2:
Making Pickle Tools + Group Painting and Sculpture Creation
• Learn about fresh and fermented snow cabbage.
• Weave snow cabbage, make "writing brushes", and other tools.
• Carve on the head of the baby cabbage - painting on a seal.
Part 3:
Group Exhibition of Canvas Diaries Using corresponding tools made from different pickles and vegetables, write small diaries together on the canvas, use the "stinky" tools made by themselves to paint, and then share.
Time:
January 9, 2026, 14:00-16:00
location:
SLAC607, Wenzhou-Kean University Library
Number of participants:
15
Please register at once:
Please fill out the questionnaire:
