Welcome

In 2012 there will be feasting in Chicago.

In February of that year, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago will premiere Feast: Radical Hospitality and Contemporary Art,
an exhibition about the meal as a medium for contemporary artists. I'm
the curator of the exhibition, and over the next two and 1/2 years, this blog will host ongoing research for
the project.

Here's our current description of the show:

The act of sharing food and drink with others is a basic human pleasure and an enduring source of aesthetic inspiration. Today, the shared meal has become a compelling artistic medium: a surprising number of artists are using meals to advance aesthetic goals and foster critical engagement with our current culture. These artist-orchestrated meals can offer a radical form of hospitality that punctures everyday experience, using food as a means to spark encounters and perceptions that aren't otherwise possible within our fast-moving and overly segmented society. Feast: Radical Hospitality and Contemporary Art surveys these practices for the first time. Through a series of new art commissions in public spaces and a presentation within the Smart Museum, the exhibition will introduce new artists and contextualize their work in relation to some of the most influential artists of the last century, from the Italian Futurists to Gordon Matta-Clark and Rirkrit Tirvanija. Feast addresses the radical hospitality embodied by these artists and the social, commercial, and political structures that surround the experience of the shared meal.

Here's what you'll find on this blog:

1) Searching and Sifting:

I've chosen a few of the artists and works for Feast but am still in the "casting-a-wide-net" phase of research. There are more artists working with the meal than I had imagined when I first proposed this exhibition, and as I gather more and more information about artist-orchestrated meals around the world, I'm trying to understand how the meal fits within in each artist's practice and how it relates to their individual preoccupations. I'm also curious about whether trends will emerge and if strong connections will become visible within and across different generations and locations. (This is for the contemporary material; the historical sections are smaller and already more tightly formed.)  And of course, the research process has to yield an exhibition in the gallery as well as in public sites, one that holds together conceptually and physically and brings out the best of the artists' projects so they hold their own while also supporting the overall thematic framework. This blog will be one place to track research, analysis, and musings.

2) Reading Notes

Discussion notes about relevant texts: art histories, food histories, calls for massive structural change our current Euro-American food supply system, theories of hospitality and its importance in contemporary society, etc.

4) Research and Planning Notes

Travelogues; notes from informal "Kitchen Cabinet" planning dinners that will bring a diverse group of colleagues together for discussions leading up to the exhibition; brief discussion of relevant artists, projects, and places; pictures; excerpts from interviews; recipes, etc. Notes about the logistical challenge of transforming the research into an exhibition, public projects, collaborative public programs, related courses, and a book.

5) Occasional Guest Bloggers:

Short posts on related topics from artists, writers, Kitchen Cabinet participants, etc.

6) Comments:

A call out to  artists, curators, scholars, students, interlocutors, critics, locavores, chefs, shopkeepers, salonistas, activists, everyday cooks, backyard gardeners, farmers' marketers, Chowhounders, LTHForumers, etc: please share your thoughts about the blog and the project. I'd love to hear from you if there are other artists, books, meals that I should know about, or if you have incisive critique or suggestions.

| | Comments (4)

Categories

4 Comments

Clare Smith said:

Hi

I'm really interested in this.
I am and artist currently working thematically on food.

Also, Dover Arts Development www.dadonline.eu of which I am co-director with Joanna Jones is actively developing ideas around hospitality as part of our collaborative practice.

Look forward to seeing this project develop.

Colleen said:

Hello,
This sounds like a really interesting project. I have been looking for artists who use the meal as part of their message for an education project I am working on... Is there any way you could offer suggestions of such artists?

Hello Stephanie,

I curated Hybrid Fields in 2006 at the Sonoma County Museum in Northern California where I was Chief Curator from 2005-2008. You can find more information on the blog I created to document the show at http://hybridfields.blogspot.com. Would be happy to share stories regarding interactions with the public and programs we did. We also created a very successful curriculum guide for K-12. The Bay Area is filled with artists who engage food issues.

Patricia Watts

R Ferris said:

Greetings Stephanie,
I am exploring this theme of hospitality in my recent work. Typically this involves serving beer or wine and bread, taking us back over 10,000 years in sharing and communication.
I would enjoy exploring this further with you and seeing if there is a place for this type of participation in your exhibition.
Rick Ferris
R AT R-Ferris.com

Leave a comment

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Stephanie Smith published on March 21, 2009 2:20 AM.

Thank You, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Blog Description

This is an informal curatorial research blog for Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, an exhibition about the meal as a medium for contemporary artists. The exhibition opens at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art in February 2012.