Desiccate with Care turns food dehydration and preservation into a collective civic practice. The work takes as its starting point the Turkish culinary tradition of giving vegetables a second life by preserving them under an open-air drying ceiling. The process of dehydration and the cultures that surround it are explored, while produce is gathered to test and discuss drying rituals from around the world. As a counter-narrative to modern immediacy, this slow race against decay sets a new pace for public life.

The process of air-drying food has been a performative preservation technique for centuries. Examples are found around the world. In New Mexico and Arizona decorative and pungent ristas are fixed outside homes to welcome visitors. In Norway the hjell, a rich fish from the north, is hung to dry for months on wooden A-frame cathedrals of ice. In Japan, the colourful hoshigaki ritual sees thousands of persimmon fruits left to shrink deliciously in the gentle autumn breeze. The process of drying food was a necessity that has slowly evolved into a social ritual.