SHUANG XU
          徐爽
Shuang Xu is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose work explores cultural narratives, situated landscapes, ecology, craft, food, and migration histories. Her practice
is rooted in a context where material knowledge, craft, and seasonal flows shape everyday life. She works with plants, food, and their cultural and material manifestations through socially engaged practices, field research, participatory experiences, workshops, performances, installations, and publications. Her work examines relationships between plants,
communities, and migration histories, often highlighting the cultural meanings of both native and non-native species while reflecting on human and more-than-human entanglements
with the environment.






@Shuang.x.u
@culina_document_
helloshuangxu@gmail.com

COOKING & FOOD RESEARCH
FORAGING & FIELD NOTES













CV



Education
 / Training
 2021 - 2023
MA Ecology Futures
St. Joost School of Art & Design
Avans University of Applied Sciences
‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

2016 - 2019
BA Visual Communication
Swinburne University
Melbourne, Australia

2017 - 2018
Visual Communication (Exchange)
Middlesex University
London, UK

2023 KINSHIP: World as Archipelago,
Advaya, Online Course


Residency
/ Summer School 2026
Art Feeds Collective Residencies
Xarkis, Co-funded by the European Union Drouseia, Paphos, Cyprus

2026
Master Craftsmanship on Fiber Residency: Palma & Esparto
In collaboration with Miguel Teodoro, Umbigo Lab & Loulé Criativo, Loulé, 
Faro, Portugal

2025
Organic Lab Residency
Ecology and Cultures Innovations Tongji University Shanghai, China

2025
Bom Dia Residency
Cultivamos Cultura and OASis organizations, São Luís, Portugal

2025
Culture Moves Europe 
Residency Mobility Grant Funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut The Netherlands & France

2024
KORDON Lab on Food and Energy
Summer School
Kordon Residency & Jonas Palekas
Hiiumaa, Estonia

2024
Kulangsu Center for Contemporary Art Residency, Amoy, Fujian, China

2023
见地一方 Jian Di Yi Fang 
Art Residency He Art Museum, 和美术馆 Foshan, Guangdong, China 

2023
La Rivoluzione Delle Seppie Collective Art Residency Calabria, Italy

2023
Rethinking the Artist Economy Residency De Kleine Aarde St Joost 
MA Programme Boxtel, The Netherlands

2022
Academy of Margins Summer School, 
Robida Collective Topolove, Italy

2022 Future of Life Summer School Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe, Germany



Exhibitions  & Projects (Selected)
2026
Root Carriers
Undisciplined Ethnobotany Exhibition 
Society for Ethnobotany Annual Congress 
Jardin des Plantes, Botanical Garden
Montpellier, France

2026
Food in The Field Tasting
Practice presentation with Zefir7
Exhibition Positions: Unearthing
Stroom, Den Haag, The Netherlands 

2025
Um Sítio Onde Pousar a Cabeça
Collective Exhibition by
Cultivamos Cultura
Olaria Municipal Odemira
Odemira, Portugal 

2025
Fungi Tasting
Part of FUNGI: Anarchist Designers
Exhibition curated by 
Anna Tsing & Feifei Zhou
Het Nieuwe Instituut
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Awarded Seed Grant 
Stokroos Foundation
Utrecht, The Netherlands

2025
Awarded CBK Artist Grant 
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Tea Ceremony
Made in China Exhibition
In collaboration with Cha X Art
Wereldmuseum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Edible Stones 
My Head is Mountain, 
My Hair is Snow exhibition 
Curated by Ibrahim Kurt
Kunstruimte Het Langhuis
Zwolle, The Netherlands

2025
Edible Infrastructures 
Street Food and the Architecture 
Het Nieuwe Instituut
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Down to the Southern Ocean 
Storytelling Dinner
Part of the Zo Zoih research presentation 
Multi Cafe
Supported by Culture Moves Europe
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Double Happiness Tea Ceremony 
Museum Night
Wereldmuseum & Cha X Art 
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2024
The Fish Knows Everything 
The___Knows Everything
Curated by Katinka Versendaal 
Dutch Design Week
Eindhoven, The Netherlands

2024
Tasting Soil
Sensory gastronomy with Miguel Teodoro 
As part of Soil Horizons curated by Sirid Schmeisser
World Soil Museum
Wageningen, The Netherlands

2024
Botanical Islanders Exhibition 植物岛民  
Luchao Kulangsu Art Park
Kulangsu, Xiamen (Amoy), China

2023
Root Carriers Temple 
Adrift, A Shift Graduation Show
Willem Twee
Den Bosch, The Netherlands

2021  
Never Independent Short Film
Research Lab Programme
Eye Film Museum



Professional Roles (Selected)

2024-2025
Head Chef at Bar Cult
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2023-2024
Chef at Regina Studio
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Visiting Artist, Tongji University
Organic Lab and Koji Printing Workshops
Shanghai, China

2025
M21D - Museum of 21st Century Design
Project Manager
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2025
Guest Teacher
BA BIO Design
Post Carbon Future Programme
Central Academy of Fine Arts
Beijing, China

2023
Assistant
Spring Lecture Research Series
St. Joost School of Art & Design
Den Bosch, The Netherlands


Publication
2026
“Cookbook” in Drouseia, 
PINIK Unconference
Drouseia, Paphos, Cyprus

2025
Photosynthetic Breath:
Algae Research Publication
Den Hoorn, The Netherlands

2024
Motion in Print Publication
United Cowboys,
Eindhoven, The Netherlands

2023
Root Carriers
MA Thesis Research Hub
V2, Rotterdam, The Netherlands                 








Last Updated 24.10.31
PROJECTS



1. Root Carrier
   (2026)


Undisciplined Ethnobotany 
Society for Ethnobotany Annual Congress 
Montpellier, France





Materials: 
Incense sculptures made with Artemisia; 
Dried Artemisia vulgaris and 
Artemisia argyi plants
Photography: Miguel Teodoro

 Root Carrier is part of the SEB Ethnobotanical Congress at the Institute of Botany in Montpellier, presented as an interdisciplinary dialogue with academic researchers. Expanding on my ongoing research, the exhibition explores narratives of  “non-natives” from both ecological and social perspectives.

Through mixed-media installations that engage reading and smell, the work traces the intertwined histories of Asian Artemisia species and the Cambodian-Teochew diaspora community in Paris, particularly the women who gather at the temple in the 13th arrondissement.

The project emerged from encounters with Asian Artemisia in Europe and the speculative histories of its arrival, linked to the 19th-century French occupation of Indochina. By connecting plant migration with family migration stories across generations, the research reflects on the complexities of “non-native” identities shaped by migration and colonial histories.










2.  Uma Braça
    (2026)


Umbigo Lab & Loulé Criativo
Fiber Research & Making
In collaboration with Miguel Teodoro
Faro, Portugal
This residency explores the two endangered crafts of Algarve’s local plants — palma (Chamaerops humilis) and esparto (Macrochloa tenacissima) fiber weaving in Loulé, Portugal. Conducted in collaboration with Portuguese artist Miguel Teodoro and local master artisans, the project investigates how these traditional techniques, passed down through generations, embody both material knowledge and the transformations they bring to local ecology, agro-systems, and economic systems. The research focuses on understanding the physical properties of the fibers, the gestures and processes involved in their crafting, and their connections to the landscape and community life of the region. By engaging directly with artisans and experimenting with form, texture, and weaving methods, the residency reflects on how these nearly lost crafts can inspire new approaches to contemporary art, fostering a conversation between heritage and co-creation while emphasising the fragility and resilience of traditional craft practices.





 
                                                   



3. Fungi Tasting 
   (2025)

Het Nieuwe Instituut
FUNGI: Anarchist Designers
Exhibition curated by
Anna Tsing & Fei-Fei Zhou














Photography: Iliana Michali
This tasting was created to accompany Fungi Anarchist, an exhibition curated by Anna Tsing and Feifei Zhou. Conceived as an extension of the exhibition space, the menu engaged fungi as living collaborators—organisms that shape human cultures, ecologies, and ways of being together.

Through fermentation, mycelium-based foods, and traditional Chinese food fungal practices, the tasting traced how humans have learned to work with fungi over time: cultivating transformation, preserving food, and building shared flavors across places and generations. The dishes emphasized slowness, care, and process rather than spectacle.

The act of eating became a form of encounter—another way of entering the exhibition. Taste, warmth, and texture opened a
sensory dialogue with the ideas in the space, inviting participants to experience fungi not only intellectually, but bodily
and collectively.











4.  Tidal Dinner
    (2025)

Oasis Residency
Cultivamos Cultura
San Luís, Odemira, 
Alentejo, Portugal
 By the Mira River, where freshwater meets the tide, this residency explored the river’s ecology through food- and water-related practices such as fishing, harvesting, and foraging. The research traced the presence of displaced plants and local materials, revealing how edible species and traditions both shape and are shaped by the river.

Through the idea of “water-foraging tools,” the work combined basketry, textiles, and ceramics, creating objects that serve as both practical tools and vessels for storytelling. Using materials gathered from the landscape, these tools became a bridge between migratory culinary knowledge and local food traditions, exploring how flavors, techniques, and ecological practices intertwine.

The residency culminated in an open studio and Tidal Dinner, a communal meal prepared with Nepalese cook Ambika, where plants, herbs, and seaweed from the river’s edge became ingredients for sharing stories and place.











5. Zo Zoih
   Food and Foraging Workshop 
   (2025)




Research, Foraging
Communal Event / Workshop
Culture Moves Europe
Mobility Grant
Paris, France. Often dismissed as a common weed in Europe, Artemisia holds deep medicinal, cultural, and spiritual significance in Chinese traditions. This project centers on reconnecting with Artemisia during the Dragon Boat Festival by leading a foraging walk in the forests around Paris with Jeunes Teochew in France, where participants learn to identify the plant, explore its healing properties in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and uncover its role in Teochew folklore. After harvesting, we gather at the Teochew diaspora association in Paris to prepare a traditional kueh using the freshly foraged Artemisia, fostering kinship through shared culinary and cultural practices. This experience invites reflection on diaspora identity, ancestral wisdom, and ecological resilience, weaving together food, memory, and community.


   


6.  Photosynthetic Breath
    (2025)



Future Food Research & Editorial
&Tasting At Alga Farm
Den Hoorn, Netherlands
 Photosynthetic Breath explores the applications and histories of microalgae, not only as a futuristic protein source, but as an ancient organism embedded with ecological and cultural wisdom. Moving beyond the dominant “future-saver” narrative, the project situates micro-algae within a broader conversation with food and agricultural knowledge, spanning both ancient practices and contemporary learnings.


The research unfolds through an editorial publication, fermentation experiments working with micro-algae and other microbes -
such as the culture of kefir, and a public tasting event that showcases microbial ecosystems and their roles in sustaining

healthy environments. Through site-specific research, culinary experimentation, and co-creation with micro-algae, the project looks into its nutritional potential and ecological significance.









7.  Edible Infrastructures
    (2025)


Edible Infrastructures: 
Mixed Media Food Presentation
Street Food and Architecture 
Het Nieuwe Instituut




Duration: 1.5 hours (participatory tasting)
Materials: Sticky Rice folded into bamboo leaves, homemade tofu, wild chives, woven basket
Photos by Marieke Feldhaus. 

This tasting project explores the street food cultures of Southern China, where food is not merely consumed, but serves as a means of gathering, a medium of exchange, and a repository of cultural memory and self-learning. It draws from observations of the street’s hustle, a space where people meet, nourish one another, and engage in spontaneous acts of hospitality and knowledge-sharing.
Street food as a vernacular architecture in edible form. Each dish embodies improvisation, adaptation, and the ingrained discipline of the self-giver: the cook who rises at dawn, the vendor who claims a patch of pavement, the family who repeats inherited gestures of food-making.











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