When Food Liberates Art
By Audrey Poussines
Eating is a constant in the living world. But much more than a simple natural need, sharing a meal takes on an undeniable symbolic and philosophical dimension that several unvisual artists have invested. We will meet these artists, all related to ENDA (National Art School of Paris), who revisit this universal act of nourishing themselves by placing themselves at odds with the commercial system of art.
When the only purpose of art is to integrate into a commercial system and to please the public, it necessarily loses its essence. Food coupled with unvisual art is a break with this dynamic. The constant commodification of art amplifies the harmful effects of neoliberalism and the requirements to correspond to a certain aesthetic, in total opposition to the foundations of unvisual art.
This is why food is an important source of inspiration for several unvisual artists who integrate it into a social project, making it possible to unite rather than divide and even to push to commit, all essential functions of art. The concept of anarchist bakery or solidarity canteens flourishing in France recalls the concept of the Conflict Kitchen, a food truck created in Pittsburg that only offers cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. In addition to the meals distributed, debates on films addressing geopolitical problems, always animate the surroundings of the food truck.
Another More Ethical Model?
Alexandre Gurita, artist and theoretical founder of “invisual art,” also sees the exploration of food uses as a way to reinvent the traditional economic models of the art market by proposing alternative production circuits. These “invisual” practices are ecological par excellence: “There is no production of works of art in toxic materials, which travel around the world several times to be exhibited. These projects are also democratic!”
Ethics is what the unvisual art, putting food at the center, tends towards. Quentin Derouet sees his quest form eaning as a fundamental milestone in the expression of his art. Living near a garden-forest is a way to meet his ideals. His complete immersion in this inspiring nature is a great lever of inspiration: “Ethics is something very important to me. Reducing art to its material characteristics is meaningless while paying attention to others and nature is fundamental for me. In my garden-forest, I leave room for all species. I am experimenting by proposing rose crops from new varieties.”
An adept of naturalness, he has put food at the heart of his art, which he invests in every way, and in an unusual way, he sees creativity as a huge interdisciplinary field of experimentation by making thyme alcohol as well as honey with his parents. He had even set up chicken installations that he cooked with spotlights during festive meals. His artistic approach is, therefore, marked by the desire to create social ties and to reactivate utopias while questioning the conventional aspects of art. Always with a collective perspective, Quentin has recently re-adapted the Croque fruits project with his accomplice Vincent Bourdet, the design and sale of an artisanal fruit bar of dates and almonds, created in Marseille during the Second World War in the free zone.
The artists could then work and continue their artistic practice. A solidarity based company, provider of “beautiful values,” which is, at the origin, the creation of the Itkine brothers. A project supported by Reine Caulet, the last survivor to have participated, and which had given back a glimmer of saving hope in times of war.
Back to the Essence of Art
As for Flavien Paget, after following a traditional path in art school, he, too, decided to put himself on the sidelines of the classical system. Art having lost its essence; he proclaims himself a communal artist advocating a return to the sources and the local. Like Quentin, he makes a point of honor to choose local, natural and quality products. He wants to awaken conscience and make his art move outside the walls of the museum.
Having met several cheese makers around the world, he learned the work of cheese in Scotland. He explores pairings, special refinements from Munster to Picon, creates quirky sweets with cheddar and chocolate where the taste and ethics of food are paramount. He resorts to other dishes such as burger and pizza.
In his text Notes on Pizza, he reveals more about his innovative vision of art: “The work here lies in the approach. And this is the whole point of my artistic work, my practice being built on the principles of autonomous economy, the intersection of disciplines and distancing from the conventional art market. Hethen has every opportunity to rethink the cards of social norms by proposing a cuisine that is accessible, economic and ecological.
Natural Elements as an Artistic Material
In a completely different register, Sylvain Soussan surprises with his bottling project of the water of Paris by diverting the usual use of drinking water. He puts the cursor on this excessive commodification of art despite taking into account the healthy limits of natural elements. By proposing glass bottles marked with a significant message: Eau au naturel, he questions our perception of the invisible in art, like tap water, transparent, colorless and tasteless, but nevertheless essential to life.
Sylvain has multiplied the mediation supports with water as his leitmotif. He first used mobile fountains in living and working spaces. Then came the cups, glasses, bottles, then the watering cans, the cisterns and two water towers on which it is written: Museum of clouds. His art values both recycling and sharing, in a form of circular and solidarity economy.
Collecting water in a glass bottle is a crying call to respect the environment “Ideally, our bottles would arouse a certain attachment, the desire to prolong their fragile existence. The agreement of glass and water is more satisfactory than plastic or metal. Our bottles to be filled on tap encourage us to toast transparency, this form of invisibility where the undetectable flavor of blandness is concentrated,” details Sylvain. The awakened tasting of water is an artistic experience that pushes the drinker to become the own artist of his gustatory pleasure: “This insipid character becomes for the water a guarantee of quality, and faced with this apparent absence of taste, the palate can linger on other taste sensations. The texture, the viscosity, the temperature can take over”—true poetry of water.
Act Imminently
He invites us to become an actor in his own life, also placing himself in opposition to the purely mercantile art world, which would only be a world of great fortunes planetary and a stack of egos to satisfy: the artist’s ego, the collector’s ego, the ego from the art entrepreneur. He announces that the unvisual art remains an effective way to bring about change. Due to its rarity and its diversions, it surprises: “Everything remains to be done for the actors of the unvisual art because they play a score where no one knows their role, since this art invests territories where it is not expected. That’s what makes it difficult and interesting.”
Art should no longer only awaken consciences. He must react and move the lines, he argues: “It would be necessary for each person to consider himself as an artist of his own life and thus acquire a form of autonomy in terms of taste, standards, needs. Art can aestheticize scraps and make desirable projects that are now devalued. It helps us to adopt less aggressive behaviors towards Earth’s resources. Our conceptions of aesthetics need to be reviewed, we would need less gloss, less plastic…” An ecological and social emergency that he expresses in several artistic projects.
The Reunifying Food
Ricardo Mbarkho was the founder of the Tabbouleh Day in 2001. With Alexander Gurita, straight out of fine arts school, he wanted to revolutionize art. The tabbouleh was a way for him to claim it. This tabbouleh day is an extension of these post-war paintings that seek to fight, to raise awareness, and to question what does good and evil. All this to better destabilize the power. This day honors this authentic meeting all over the world. Passionate, he tells us that this event has evolved a lot over the years. A change in perception as his awareness of the importance of bringing together rather than dividing has intensified.
Initially, it was when he realized during a trip to France that the Lebanese tabbouleh recipe was not respected, in the supermarkets, that he wanted to create this day as a sign of national pride. Ricardo then gradually changes his mind: “In 2001, I carry values of belonging to Lebanon. You should know that the dish is presented, mediatized, and taught by Lebanese institutions. Seeing this insolence towards the traditional recipe revolted me. I was touched by this cultural appropriation. Now, that’s totally the opposite of what I’m presenting. In 22 years, I have changed my perception. Today, I’m not talking about a national day anymore! It is an encounter with the other, which allows me a detachment from my environment. Why submit to the wishes of the kings of war who divided the borders? I am a citizen of the world!”
The tabbouleh can be both a tool of community violence but above all it is “like a food for everyone that connects people in the sense of humanizing”. The idea of a shared day makes it possible to centralize the energies of the tabbouleurs of the world. An informal party that takes place on the first Saturday of July, but not only. According to Ricardo, it is a moment to think about our freedom and our authentic being while taking up in his own way the terms monopolized by power.
A Collective Approach to Art, a Factor of Change
For the lazy artist, unvisual art is a fusion of art and life that operates to the end, and which, therefore, re-inscribes art in life: “The ambition of the lazy artist is to change the world but with a little humility. What I can say is that the art of laziness is not a solitary art. It is a question of operating a contamination by laziness and of involving as many people as possible in this practice. It is an approach intrinsically destined to be collective, but I cannot decide for them what others will do with it.”
She summarizes in this way the collective impact of this art, which can lift mountains, because it takes fully into account our lifestyles, such as food or our relationship to work: “Approaching the unvisual practices of various artists through food, is, I believe, one of the best ways to do because it is to discover these practices through the prism of everyday life and what is essential to our lives and not by a somewhat artificial aestheticizing approach. Food concentrates all the topics: economic, environmental, health topics and as an artist, I could not ignore such an important topic.” Recently, for health reasons, she has also questioned her own eating habits. After having distributed a sample of the lazy artist’s diary in a paper micro-edition at the start of the new school year, she is currently working on a cookbook format that she did not choose at random. Much more shareable than an exhibition catalog, the unvisual artists’ cookbook speaks to everyone and highlights the artists’ practices without sacralizing them, with lightness and derision.
Audrey Poussines is a web journalist passionate about culture, ecology, and social issues. She is captivated by all forms of expression and enjoys writing about urban and modern art, food, and music.
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