The Dinner Table: Reconstructing Mukbang Live Streaming

During this residency, I use Mukbang, a South Korean trend wherein web or television hosts eat large amounts of food, as a case study of the YouTube recommendation algorithm’s impact on developing economies and their ecology. My series of video work and live interactive experiments entitled The Dinner Table explores the Internet’s material impact on the environment, reveals how trends like Mukbang create an imbalance in our global food supply chain, and uncovers the origin point: excessive consumption of endless viral content. This portal is part of an ongoing project to highlight connections between individual action and environmental issues, and expose how tech institutions mediate these pathways. I hope audiences see this shared vision, engage in re-imagining digital space, and collectively re-design the physical space that follows.