Spectacles of/for assetization

One prominent form of organising innovation in technoscientific capitalism is through provisioning platforms for exchange and networking such as industry conferences or trade fairs. In this paper I explore the role these events play in the making of a new industry (Leivestad and Nyqvist, 2017) drawing on my ethnographic research into the emerging FoodTech sector – a growing sector populated by entrepreneurs and investors that state to share the goal to disrupt the food industry. Conceptually, I approach conferences as spectacles (Rethel, 2018). Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews as well as media analysis of live streamed or video recorded foodtech conferences, I argue that these events open up visions of alternative food futures (cf. Schneider, 2018) that are presented as investment opportunities. I examine the rationales and aims for staging and narrating food futures in particular ways. I also emphasise the role that setting (e.g., the stage etc.) and set-up, frequently organized as a spectacle, play in promoting entrepreneurs’ visions, and reflect how the spectacular set-up is connected to capitalization and assetization (cf. Muniesa et al. 2017, Birch and Muniesa, in press). In other words, I show how food is turned into an asset and argue that spectacularisation is a central process for doing so. Ultimately, my research shows how conferences and similar events are spectacles of/for assetization. I contribute to current STS research on markets, values and assetization by putting the spotlight on industry conferences as spaces of spectacularisation central to assetization and the making of new industries or industry sectors.