As my final piece for a course called Public Art that I am taking this semester at Brown University, I am beginning a project called Art for Dinner. Art for Dinner will be a series of a small meals, authored by me, to be prepared and enjoyed by as many people as possible in as many locations as possible. The first Art for Dinner event will be this Sunday December 6, 2009 at 6 PM EST. I’m coordinating these dinners as dispersed, simultaneous performances of cooking and eating that take place in participants homes, among 3 or 4 people. The dinner explores several concepts that interest me:
1. The artfulness of food.
Food is beautiful, and sustaining, and deserving of respect. In skipping and rushing through meals, opting for fast processed snacks over carefully prepared food, we devalue it. By reminding ourselves to be intentional in cooking and eating, we can resuscitate the cultural and biological preciousness and beauty of food. (The produce I provide is I-did-the-best-I-could local and organic.)
2. The solitary performance.
On this topic, I have a few more questions than answers: What does it mean to perform alone? How does artistic intention affect action? How does art act as a means for mindfulness? Domestic actions such as cooking, eating, washing, cleaning are gendered tasks that women perform daily to an invisible audience. By attending to the notion of performance, participants become aware of how and why and when they are acting gender.
3. The dispersion of collectivity
We spend a lot of time in our own houses minding other people’s business. New communication technology allows us to participate in a collective action while sitting in our living rooms all by ourselves. By doing private business (cooking and eating) collectively and intending to share it publicly, we form a powerful dispersed public. By inviting an artist to prompt her action, a participant submits to a common stimulus (the instructions), provides a unique response (the meal), and in doing so adds her own unique voice to a chorus of otherwise strangers. It kind of looks like this: o0O0o0O0o
4. The individual’s interpretation of instructions.
I expect each meal to be different and want participants to share their experiences with me. With their permission, I will post the photos and comments about their individual dinners here, on this blog. Everyone should talk about it, post comments, ask questions, make suggestions, be friends.
Anyone can participate. I’d be delighted if you’d cook dinner this Sunday and take part in what will hopefully be a growing project of repeated events with guest authors of meals, interactive real-time ways to engage, new locations, endless possibilities. An essential part of the project is not only your participation but your documentation. I ask that you, as a participant, photograph your meal and send it to amylehrburger@gmail.com with a couple lines about your experience. In doing this, I assume that you give me the rights to post that picture and text on this website and leave the material open for comments. This feedback is crucial to the success of Art for Dinner.
I have a good feeling this is going to be really cool.
- Amy Lehrburger
