Post-Pangea

“If you reap what you sow, who soughs what you reap?” “Post-Pangea” critically engages with the politics of biocapitalism as it pertains to the food industry and how ideas of nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and genetic engineering have infected the imaginary of agriculture and food production. Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of materials and the creation of structures and systems that exist at the scale of atoms and molecules. Researchers embed infinitesimally small nanoscale biosensors and particles in plants to detect pathogens, pesticides, heavy metals, and other contaminants in food, water, and soil. We are told that this technological intervention is vital to ensure food security in a world ravaged by climate change. Yet existing research indicates that nanoparticles have a greater risk of toxicity than larger particles and the multi-generational impact of nanotoxicology is still poorly understood. With “Post-Pangea,” particle group asks us to consider who stands to profit from these innovations and to shed light on the lack of regulation of nanoparticles.