Sunday, April 20, 2025

2:00 – 3:30 PM

Replenish Your Capacity: A lecture-workshop and latte tasting with TAYLOR LE MELLE

In a similar vein (and at a similar time) to Brianna Leatherbury’s DIY fixes to the heating issue in their studio—the ones which informed the current exhibition The Drain—writer Taylor Le Melle has been attending to her health through DIY self-experimentation. Since 2021, they have been developing a powered mushroom and herbal root ‘latte’ from a series of experiments informed by self-directed research into the nervous system, and where it overlaps with the immune system. This research has been driven by the question, How can I turn this body into one that can finish a book?, a question to which the main physiological barrier was recurrent sinus infections during the luteal phase of each monthly cycle.

As many of us living in the Netherlands would know, the woes of heating come hand-in-hand with the problem of moisture: in a humid country, mould and dampness is commonplace in housing situations, particularly in rental apartments where landlords are almost always more hands off than not. In drawing a connection to the climate conditions of the building—to what might grow in its damp, dark corners (the answer is mushrooms!)—Le Melle will present a lecture-workshop in the basement of A Tale of A Tub, the very location where the central heating system so key to the construction of the Justus van Effencomplex was housed. The lecture will narrate her health journey, trying to problematise the ideological barriers they have been traversing: the wellness industry, biohackers, womb essentialists and entrepreneurs of the self. Woven throughout will be a step-by-step ‘cooking class’, during which participants will learn how to brew the mushroom latte at home. Key to this concoction is the role of heat: animal fat (or coconut oil, if you wish) is stirred through a powder, evenly distributing warmth throughout the brewing process.

Everyone who comes along to this event will leave with their own jar of the latte powder and the knowledge needed for brewing it at home. In order to provide the ingredients necessary for this, there is a charge for €5 or participation. Please sign up via this link so we can provide the perfect proportions.