A young woman in the grips of death turns away from it. Her gaze and hands, clasped in prayer illustrate her disgust for her own transience, which is represented by the corpse. By demonstrating that death is not appeased by youth nor beauty, this dramatic work of art implores its viewer to lead a more conscientious life.

In this sculpture from the late 18th century, a naked man stands atop a pedestal. His bare body, representing the ideal human form, is gilded in bronze. The connection between a scientific desire for knowledge of the body and corporeal aesthetics is explored in the "Meat" exhibition in Berlin that ultimately "reveals the omnipresent conflict between life and death in human culture."

In April 2005 at Berlin's New National Gallery, 100 women of various ages wore only see-through tights for three hours while they watched the crowd. Italian artist Beecroft asked her subjects not to smile or to communicate with anyone, and to pretend they were dressed as they flaunted their flesh. The carnal lust for the body was a central theme in the performance.

As part of the British navy blockade of Germany during World War I, meat was rationed from 1915 and could only be acquired using "Reich meat coupons." The card is displayed at the "Meat" exhibition to remind visitors that meat was once a luxury item in Germany, with citizens allowed only 12 percent of the meat they used to consume before the start of the Great War.

The Xoloitzcuintli dog, which is native to pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, was fattened by the Aztecs to supply meat that was considered tasty. The pot-bellied dogs are commonly represented in western Mexican ceramic art as seen above. Though the animals were not a major food source for the Aztecs, the figure reminds us of the fine line between food and companions in human culture.

Pigs have long been domesticated for their flesh and remain a major meat source in Europe. Considered a sign of fertility in many countries, however, pigs have divergent cultural significance around the world. In Europe, the relationship with the pig is particularly ambivalent: it can be a lucky pig, a piggy bank, but also a symbol of sin and greed.

Jesus was the last necessary sacrifice for the early Christians, for by his death all the sins of humanity could be overcome. A symbolic act of anthropophagy, or the eating of human flesh, allows all believers to share in the "body of Christ." As the Eucharist ritual spells out: "This is my blood, this is my body." With these words, flesh became a central symbol of the Christian church.

Johanna Schmeer's project explores how enzyme-enhanced bioplastics produce nutrients by being exposed to light. She's among the 30 designers invited to imagine what and how we will eat in the future for the exhibition Food Revolution 5.0: Design for Tomorrow's Society, on until September 30 at Berlin's Kunstgewerbe museum. It shows how our decisions about the food we consume are highly political.

Since cattle farming alone produces more CO2 than driving cars, Kuwaiti designer Hanan Alkouh created a vision for a meat substitute made of seaweed, itself a superfood. To preserve "the theatrics of trade vocations like farmer, slaughterer or butcher," the seaweed was designed to look strikingly similar to a huge piece of meat.

Exploring alternatives to fossil fuels, Italian designer Maurizio Montalti created a transparent system to show how one fungus can break down plastic, while another makes it into bio-ethanol. Here, chopped up rubber duckies demonstrate how micro-organisms can get rid of our waste.

Photographer Klaus Pichler's photo project One Third takes its cue from a UN study that found that one third of the world's food goes to waste, while 925 million people are threatened by starvation. These intricate still life photos, including these rotting strawberries, call attention to overconsumption.

Hoping to make Europe's disgust of eating insects a thing of the past, artist Carolin Schulze created a rabbit shape out of mealworm paste with the help of a 3D printer. Could such a design have us eating worms — and enjoying them?

Another project that makes use of new technology, Chloe Rutzerveld's Edible Growth creates a 3D-printed dough that grows edible fungi in a pleasing form. Rutzerveld calls it a "high-tech but fully natural, healthy and sustainable food."

This mobile kitchen was created as a community project to unite 12 strangers who are required to sit together for the 1.5-hour duration of a three-course meal. "We were thinking about how to create a project where we get to know people, and the result was that we need a big table and food," says designer Ania Rosinke.

Creating a matrix for chickens, this project by American artist Austin Stewart imagines what would happen if industrial livestock were given VR headsets to simulate a happy, free-range farm life.

A far cry from a quiet life in the countryside, Henk Wildschut's photo series Food provides an inside look at how food is produced. These piglets are among the many animals that spend their lives in such clinical spaces before ending up in grocery stores around the world.