The Studio

Books | Film | Art | Challenges

As a food futurist and historian, I am passionate about the intersection of where humans and technology meet.

Some projects I have been working on include an upcoming book and documentary that explore the way technology shapes our relationship with food through the lens of our global food system.

Books

Humans in Our Food

Humans in our Food book by Robyn S Metcalfe

Food Routes:
Growing Bananas in Iceland and Other Tales from the Logistics of Eating

Food Routes by Robyn S Metcalfe

Meat, Commerce and the City:
Perspectives in Economic and Social History

Meat, Commerce and the City (Perspectives in Economic and Social History) by Robyn Metcalfe

The New Wizard War:
How the Soviets steal U.S. high technology–and how we give it away

The new wizard war: How the Soviets steal U.S. high technology--and how we give it away by Robyn Metcalfe

Film

The Long Coast movie with Robyn S Metcalfe, executive producer

The Long Coast, 2020

Robyn S. Metcalfe, Executive Producer

In a series of lyrical portraits, THE LONG COAST illuminates the stories of Maine’s seafolk, those whose lives and livelihoods are inextricably connected to the ocean. This atmospheric film shows the beauty, intimacy, and uncertainty that coastal dwellers face in rooting their lives in the ocean, particularly as human actions — from overfishing, to aquaculture, to warming seas — confront Maine and its people with profound change.

Rent on Vimeo

Watch on Apple TV

The Arc of Oblivion movie, Robyn Metcalfe executive producer

Arc of Oblivion, 2023

Robyn S. Metcalfe, Executive Producer

In a universe that erases its tracks, why are we so hellbent on leaving a trace?

From executive producer Werner Herzog (“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”; “Grizzly Man”) and director Ian Cheney (“King Corn”), “The Arc of Oblivion” is an unexpectedly playful search for an answer to a deeply existential question. Set against the backdrop of the filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in a field in Maine, the film heads far afield — to salt mines in the Alps, fjords in the Arctic, and ancient libraries in the Sahara — to illuminate the strange world of archives, record-keeping, and memory.

Art

Robyn Metcalfe art
Robyn Metcalfe art
Robyn Metcalfe art
Robyn Metcalfe art

Challenges

When I am not doing these things, I keep my sanity by doing the following:

Crazy experimental artwork for the Brooklyn Library 28-day Challenge, which you can see on my personal Instagram page.

Shave ‘em to Save ‘em challenge (see video), a fun challenge by the Livestock Conservancy, which supports Heritage Breeds.

Keeping up-to-date with the move of London’s historic Smithfield Market, an 800-year-old meat market (and topic of my Ph.D.) that is slated to move to a new location in the future.