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Somæ is an artistic research collective exploring the relationships between land, food, fermentation, archives, and collective care. Working across artistic research, community practice, and ecological thinking, Somæ approaches fermentation as both method and metaphor: a way of generating knowledge through slow transformation, reciprocity, and more-than-human collaboration. Rather than producing fixed outcomes, the collective creates situations in which making, eating, listening, and archiving become shared practices of inquiry ~
Through workshops, communal meals, publications, performances, and site-responsive interventions, somæ investigates how food, microbes, memory, and material processes can reshape our understanding of care, knowledge, and belonging. Its work draws together artistic research, archival experimentation, and ecological practices, inviting participants to engage with living systems as collaborators rather than resources.
Recent activities include the Community Kraut sessions at Stadsoase Spinozahof (The Hague NL, 2020-ongoing); The Anti-Class Ferments residency at B32 (Maastricht NL, 2026); the peer-reviewed publication Tending the Unfinished: Towards Non-Extractive Practices with Fermentation and Moving Archives in Journal for Artistic Research (2026); presentations and exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (BE, 2026); and ongoing participation in community kitchens in The Hague (2023-ongoing).
Somæ was initiated by artist-researcher anna andrejew and archival researcher/community cook Floris Janssens, whose complementary practices bring together artistic research, ecological thinking, archival studies, and participatory food practices. While rooted in their collaboration, somæ is conceived as an evolving collective that grows through collaborations with people, places, and more-than-human companions ꩜
Somæ Collective
We are always interested in meeting people, collectives, initiatives, and more-than-human collaborators who are curious about slow practices of cooking, caring, and fermenting. If you'd like to start a conversation, write to us at annaandrejew(a)proton.me ~
insta: www.instagram.com/_.somae._/
somæ takes its name from the body (soma): not as an isolated individual, but as something continuously shaped through relationships- with microbes, food, landscapes, memories, and one another .