In January of 2020 I partnered with the independently run project space, Paradice Palase in Brooklyn, to curate a participatory exhibition in collaboration with food artist Salimatu Amabebe. In this project I created the physical environment (tables topped with a multitude of textured objects and soft sculptures visitors were welcome to handle and even sit on) and Salimatu made all the food present in the exhibition.
The concept for this work was rooted in the tradition of using the gallery as social space and site for participatory performance. Our goal was to create an environment that played with the idea of how we interact with food and fine art, respectively. By blending art objects and food, both through arranging them together and in them mimicking each other’s appearance, we wanted to stimulate feelings of curiosity, discovery and surprise. Visitors were encouraged to reach into piles and tear open containers to obtain consumables and, by so doing, to come in direct physical contact with the artworks. Our hope was that through this kind of engagement the lines between sensual pleasures would be blurred and therefore result in feelings of comfort, softness and renegotiations with ideas of repugnance.
Carefully crafted vegan food was arranged on and presented amongst well-polished and meticulously crafted fine art objects. As the exhibition elapsed and visitors interacted with the presentation, the pristine surfaces started to stain and become messy. We invited that slow destruction. In fact, it was only after this process of visitor interaction that the pieces were "finished". The name of the project was a reference to this end goal. In fact, the reason it was called mess twice ("Mess/MESS") is that we anticipated the disarray that the performance would generate but we also wanted to reference the communal atmosphere that would be created as a result- much like when meals are eaten in mess halls.
Visitor at opening approaching display

Add

Mess/MESS