'Trained on Veda' is an evolving artwork and malted loaf by artist Laura Wilson that connects bakeries and galleries and continues her interest into the social and cultural agency of materials. 'Trained on Veda' was initiated during Wilson’s residency at Delfina Foundation in 2016, and developed with TACO!, Site Gallery, Grand Union and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. Supported by Arts Council England.

Veda bread is a dark brown malt loaf which was created in 1900, and became popular in the early part of the 20th Century and bakeries selling veda bread opened in most cities across the UK. It had a uniquely malted taste, which was easily digestible, full of vitamins and a long shelf-life (five to seven days) and due to its unique properties it was sent out to the soldiers in WW1 as it would reach the trenches fresh, and would keep them healthy. Today it is only made in Northern Ireland.

Through 'Trained on Veda' Wilson has been working with Marc Darvell from Darvells, a family run bakery in Buckinghamshire to make a malted loaf inspired by this history. 'Trained on Veda' aims to reintroduce veda bread to mainland UK again collaborating with a network of galleries & bakeries, enabling people to taste this historic bread and to generate discussion.

Audio work entitled Shift (2020) is complementing the photograph, which is an audio mix of Laura baking a batch of 'Trained on Veda' bread at Darvells Bakery.

Also please take a listen to the radio programme: 'Laura Wilson, Bread and the City'

About the artist:

Laura Wilson (b. Belfast, Northern Ireland, lives & works in London) is interested in how history is carried and evolved through everyday materials, trades and craftsmanship. She works with specialists to develop sculptural and performative works that amplify the relationship between materiality, memory and tacit knowledge.

Wilson’s interdisciplinary and research-based works have been exhibited widely including at: The Collection Museum, Lincoln with Mansions of the Future, UK;  First Draft, Sydney, Australia (2021); 5th Istanbul Design Biennial – Empathy Revisited: Designs for More than One; Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norwich, UK (2020); The British Museum, London, UK with Block Universe; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK; and The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London, UK (2018); SPACE, London, UK; V&A Museum, London, UK; and Invisible Dust at Hull and East Riding Museum, Hull, UK (2017); Delfina Foundation, London, UK (2016 & 17) Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK (2016); Whitstable Biennial, UK (2014); Camden Arts Centre, London, UK and Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2013); W139, Amsterdam and De Warande, Turnhout, Belgium (2012). Her project Trained on Veda, a malted loaf and evolving artwork was initiated during her residency at Delfina Foundation in 2016 is being developed in partnership with TACO!, Thamesmead, Grand Union, Birmingham and Site Gallery, Sheffield, supported by Arts Council England. She has forthcoming projects with POOL, Johannesburg, South Africa; The Landmark Trust, Wales, UK; and MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, part of Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK. A Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, she has been awarded the inaugural Jerwood New Work Fund and the Dover Prize 2021.

www.trainedonveda.com