Syns

Syns is a thought experiment led at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) that envisions an entirely new food system rooted in the principles of personalisation and synthetic biology.

In the near future, food is produced by a single, unified system called Syns. The promise of Syns is to provide each of its clients with the most optimised diet, using their personal data. This data serve to generate plants capable of meeting each individual’s specific needs. Furthermore, thanks to its ability to predict each person’s dietary requirements, the system is also able to conserve resources such as water and agricultural land, relying on a hybrid on-demand-just-in-time distribution model.

Throughout the narrative, Syns is portrayed through the eyes of three characters who share their experience of this new ‘data-driven’ food system in France:

• Hélène, a food activist, explains how this new food culture and its associated practices have profoundly transformed our society.
• Nathan, lead product manager at Syns, who details how the Syns system operates.
• Antoine, a former world-renowned chef, offers a historical perspective, tracing the emergence of Syns and its connection to our present day.

By providing a glimpse into the different facets of this possible future, Syns invites us to reflect on the potential disruptions and profound changes that this new foodata paradigm could trigger, both at an industrial and individual level.

Syns was showcased at the Plan D Festival (Zagreb, Croatia, 2017).