Make Tofu Not War

In Make Tofu Not War, Goshka Macuga captures a tragi-comical snapshot of a peculiar climate protest. The scene, set in a dense, seemingly uprooted forest and visible in its full expanse only through 3D goggles, is populated by three furry characters, including polar bears. Exhausted from relentless protesting and visibly frustrated, the bears have put down their pickets in order to rest. Their slogans, “4 legs good. 2 legs bad” and “lt’s hot in here,” reflect the climate emergency from a nonhuman perspective and emblematize the long-overdue recognition of animal rights in the face of forest fires, the melting ice sheet, and the acidification of the oceans. The work thus blends humor with activism, referencing both the 1960s anti-war slogan “Make Love Not War” and the rising advocacy for veganism as an alternative to resource-intensive cattle farming.

Macuga’s innovative use of 3D in a tapestry creates a layered visual narrative, revealing a multiscalar world where a forest sits within a lake surrounded by snowy mountains, an astronaut, a space capsule, and a small reproduction of Pieter Bruegel’s Tower of Babel. The three human-animal characters revive the long tradition of using animal cartoons to depict political demands along with furry fandom, where humans dress up as animals. Beyond its humorous allure, the work delves into profound ethical questions, criticizing human exceptionalism and exploring the repercussions of excluding animals from moral considerations.

Following philosopher Jacques Derrida, the exclusion of animals from the “thou shalt not kill” commandment has had “limitless” consequences. In a world where animal sacrifice is normalized, their killing serves as the loophole through which violence, murder, and war is “denegated.” To denounce the combination of attributes that present humanity’s modern constitution as exceptional, Derrida coined the term “carnophallogocentrism,” which describes the paradigm of humans as meat-eating, phallic, and rational beings.

Foregrounding a diverse spectrum of identities and experiences, Macuga highlights the intersectionality of ecological disasters. Make Tofu Not War promotes environmental and peaceful solutions through creative symbolism, fostering a collective conversation about planetary survival.

(Text written by TBA21 and used as wall label in the exhibition "The Ecologies of Peace", C3A, Córdoba, 2024)