Column

Writer

Food

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Exhibitions

This section features a selection of books and projects of note, including: CART NY, a platform promoting communication and interaction between people in the arts in Canada and New York City; Maryanne Casasanta’s web-based exhibition We All Together (2011); and Humberto Velez’s exhibition Aesthetics of Collaboration held at the Art Gallery of York University in Toronto.

Noteworthy: Food

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Editorial

The popular aphorism “you are what you eat” originates with French magistrate, gourmand and author of _The Physiology of Taste_ (1825), Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.[^1] In his lengthy meditation on food and the senses, the original phrasing is “Tell me what you eat: I will tell you what you are,” one of 20 aphorisms, most of which are richly reflective of the social values of the time. Fittingly, Brillat-Savarin’s writings helped to not only define gastronomy as an art form, but also to articulate a science of taste, and with it, specific social distinctions. For example, another of the aphorisms reads, “Animals feed: man eats: only the man of intellect knows how to eat.”

Many years later, French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu used methods of quantitative analysis to systematically analyze the relationship between culinary taste and social position. _In Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste_ (1979),[^2] he argues that differences in social class are continually reinforced through aesthetic preferences, and that, in turn, they constitute a form of cultural capital. This is no less entrenched in today’s culture of connoisseurship—built around the popular consumption of celebrity cooking shows and lushly illustrated gastronomic cookbooks—than it was for the social classes of post-revolutionary France. While such social notions of taste can be seen as further cementing existing class structures, taste as a cultivated sensory experience is also a profound and unique source of pleasure and knowledge—and a means of engaging with the world in complex and meaningful ways.

This issue takes a close look at contemporary art practices that engage food as material and as subject matter. In his essay on the food photography documenting creations by chef Ferran Adrià at his now closed restaurant, elBulli—itself included as an off-site project of the 2007 documenta—art historian Mark Clintberg presents a careful consideration of the relationship between the visual and the gustatory senses. Clintberg discusses how images can evoke taste while Liz Linden explains how food can evoke non-gustatory experiences—in this case, fireworks. Karen Azoulay’s recent project _Carnation Thunder_ was an elaborate “conceptual dinner party” performance, during which the artist served smoke-flavoured popsicles and Pop Rocks-infused chocolate, among other edibles. In conversation with Fiona Kinsella, Pandora Syperek also explores the synaesthetic nature of visual encounters with food, as they discuss the artist’s confectionary sculptures incorporating hair, bones and other inorganic materials as decorative elements. Syperek notes that when preserved by icing sugar, these edible forms become like religious relics and the “‘incorruptible’ bodies of saints.” Kinsella observes that we first “eat with our eyes.” Because her cakes are made with hair, bone and teeth, they carry a uniquely disturbing meaning in light of the phrase “you are what you eat,” unsettling the distinction between humans and animals, the living and the dead, and the edible and the inedible—divisions that also play an important role in culture and politics.

Also in this issue, Nicole Caruth explores the disjuncture between images of food and images of disaster in the work of artist Joy Garnett, whose paintings are based on images of military explosions. Discussing Garnett’s project _Kitchen Studio_ (2011), a recipe box that includes dozens of photographs of meals that she prepared, then shared online using Twitter, interspersed with images of her disaster paintings, she looks at how this pairing allows one to consider the gap between a viewer’s experience of images of catastrophe and the events themselves.

Food and food memories form the subject of an artist project by Keesic Douglas reproduced in this issue and titled _4 Reservation Food Group_. Including a story describing a recurring dream of the artist’s father, Mark Douglas, this piece reveals some of the complex and unexpected ways that food shapes culture and memory. The food experience described by Keesic and Mark Douglas arises from an experience of poverty – and a history of colonial subjugation by the Canadian government.

However, food can also be restorative. As noted in a recent lecture on artists’ restaurants given by Mark Clintberg, andpresented as part of our educational programming series, “to restore” describes the origin of the word “restaurant.” From about the 16th century to the 19th century, a “restaurant” was a highly condensed, easy-to-digest restorative broth made from cooking and sweating meat until it became a rich bouillon. The modern “restaurant” as a place for private dining—in contrast to inns with their communal tables and limited menus—did not arise until the early 1800s.[^3] The restorative function of food is evoked through another artist project appearing in this issue. As part of a larger series that includes meals conceived for artists like Thomas Hirschhorn and David Altmejd, Aislinn Thomas proposes a breakfast for British artist Simon Starling. Her menu describes the efficient and sustainable systems of transformation and migration producing the food items chosen for the meal, mirroring many of the structures that Starling reveals in his own practice.

So that we might consider other ideas that are distinct from the theme of food, this issue also includes an essay by Leah Modigliani, exploring topics that arose at the recent conference _Traffic: Conceptualism in Canada_, held at the University of Toronto. Looking at “impossible” or “imaginary” artworks of conceptualism, and the writing of a history of a conceptual art around such dematerialized practices, Modigliani focuses on a talk by artist and art historian Simon Brown about the work of a group of conceptual artists who apparently lived and worked in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, in the mid-1970s. Swapnaa Tamhane also writes about contemporary performance-based work, but with a focus on India, looking at the work of several artists in relation to traditional forms of performance in that country, and asking whether there might be an Indian performance art movement—and how it might be engaged with regional and national politics.

Across these different critical essays and artist projects is a consideration of how art facilitates a movement between different modes of sensory engagement, such as taste and sight, and between different social and political spaces. But a consideration of food—not just _what_ we eat, but _how_ we eat—both reveals and produces the human subject, making us who we are. Thus, eating is at once a performative act _and_ a way of knowing the world.

[^1]: Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, _The Physiology of Taste_ (1825; trans. Anne Drayton, Penguin Books, 1970).
[^2]: Pierre Bourdieu, _Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste_ (1979, trans. Richard Nice, Harvard UP, 1984).
[^3]: Rebecca Spang, _The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture_ (Cambridge MA: Harvard UP, 2000).

Amish Morrell is Assistant Professor at OCAD University, where he teaches Criticism & Curatorial Practice, and Visual and Critical Studies.

Editor

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An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the differences in social class through aesthetic preferences, confectionary sculptures, and the contemporary art practices that engage food.

Editorial: Food

Feature

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Canadian

Collaboration

Conceptual

An essay is presented on a conference at the University of Toronto, Ontario in November 2010 held in conjunction with the exhibition “Traffic, Conceptualism in Canada,” which was dedicated to unpacking the history of Canadian conceptual art.

Collaborating on Conceptual Art: An Aesthetics of the Impossible

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International

The article explores the disjuncture between images of food and images of disaster in the work of artist Joy Garnett, discussing works such as her project Kitchen Studio (2011).

Kitchen Studio: A Recipe for Disaster

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Politics

Performance art

The article discusses contemporary performance-based art in India. It explores the works of several artists with relevance to the traditional forms of performance in the country. It also discusses the engagement of the Indian performance art movement with regional and national politics.

The Performative Space: Tracing the Roots of Performance-Based Work in India

Interview

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An interview with artist Fiona Kinsella is presented. She discusses the significance of using cakes as her subject, touching on the metaphorical embodiment within the cakes and their parallelism to Communion and spiritual release.

Reliquary Confections: Interview with Fiona Kinsella

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Chris Lee is a graphic designer and educator based in Buffalo, New York and Toronto. His research explores graphic design’s entanglement with power, standards and legitimacy. Chris is an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo SUNY.

Designer

Publisher

Artist Project

Artist

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Indigenous

This artist project by Keesic Douglas explores food rations on First Nations reserves in Canada, and the inadequacy of corporate food products.

4 Reservation Food Groups

Review

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Cities

Location

Installation

The article reviews the exhibition “Sean Martindale: Tent: Life-like Living” at the 107 Shaw Gallery in Toronto, Ontario from November 19-26, 2010.

Sean Martindale: Tent: Life-like Living

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Performance

The article reviews the exhibition “Karen Azoulay: Carnation Thunder” at the SoHo20 Gallery in New York, New York on November 7, 2010.

Karen Azoulay: Carnation Thunder

**Rose Bouthillier** is Curator (Exhibitions) at Remai Modern in Saskatoon. Previously, she was Associate Curator & Publications Manager at MOCA Cleveland.

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Photography

The article reviews the exhibition “Jessica Eaton: Strata” at the Red Bull 381 Project in Toronto, Ontario from November 18 to December 18, 2010.

Jessica Eaton: Strate

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Violence

Myth

The article reviews the exhibition “Marcel Dzama: Behind Every Curtain” at David Zwirner in New York from February 17 to March 18, 2011.

Marcel Dzama: Behind every Curtain

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The article reviews the exhibition “John Monteith: Lost Highway” at O'Born Contemporary Gallery in Toronto, Ontario from December 9, 2010 to January 29, 2011.

John Monteith: Lost Highway

Kevin Rodgers is an artist currently based in Kingston, Ontario, where he is Artistic Director of _Modern Fuel_.

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Video

Sound

The article reviews the exhibition “Bruce Nauman: Audio/Video Piece for London, Ontario” at the Forest City Gallery in London, Ontario from January 7 to February 19, 2011.

Bruce Nauman: Audio/Video Piece for London, Ontario

Jacob Korczynski is an independent curator.

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Sculpture

The article reviews the exhibitions “Diane Arbus: A Printed Retrospective 1960-1971″ and “Cady Noland: The American Dream” at Museum De Hallen in Haarlem, The Netherlands from December 18, 2010 to March 13, 2011.

Diane Arbus: A Printed Retrospective 1960-1971 & Cady Noland: The American Dream

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Work

The article reviews the exhibition “Douglas Scholes: Working the Pragmatic Aesthetic in Four Parts” at 3E Impérial, Centre D'Essai En Art Actuel, Grandby, Quebec from August 2010 to July 2011.

Douglas Scholes: Working the Pragmatic Aesthetic in Four Parts

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Painting

The article reviews the exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” at the National Portrait Gallery in Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. from October 30, 2010 to February 13, 2011.

Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

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Economy

The article reviews the book “Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture,” by Gregory Sholette.

Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, by Gregory Sholette

Artists Books

The article reviews the book “We Are Behind the Object,” by Emily Wardill and Ian White.

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Issue 110