Hostina (Feast): Art Safari 32 Hostina (Feast): Art Safari 32 Hostina (Feast): Art Safari 32 Hostina (Feast): Art Safari 32

Uli Westphal

17th -18th June 2017

Studio BUBEC
Tělovýchovná 748
155 00 Praha-Řeporyje, Czechia

https://www.bubec.cz
https://goo.gl/maps/miVHaCQYRoM2

 

Physical food is one of the basic human needs, fuel for organisms. As early as the 18th century appears the idea that a human is different from an animal in a sophisticated way of preparing food. In 1773, the Scottish writer James Boswell called a man a “Cooking Animal”.

Today the interest in how and under what circumstances we consume is far from the usual concern for the providing of the physical energy. Primetime of commercial TVs is full of cooking shows and cooking celebrities are on the front pages of lifestyle magazines. Websites and social media are overwhelmed by virtual food. Aesthetic and physical qualities of food can become close to erotic imagination. Food porn is winning by ease and affordability. In 1996, British Vogue said: Food is new sex.

 

Population of the rich countries do not worry about the hunger saturation, but rather address the question of how to reduce the intake of energy in quantitative and flavour rich consumption. Keeping a diet is a staple of eating and living modes. Food is a means of forming an image. Eating disorders are diagnosed regardless of gender and age.
Besides (not) saturation, experience and health consequences food ethics is addressed too. The origin, ecological and moral aspects of consumption are pointed on. Foodies require a good feeling, confirmation of their character.

 

Food is a business. Food is a badge of social status. Food is an environmental statement. Food is a political act. Food is a source of entertainment, it fills the void.

 

Art cannot stay away. For centuries, food in both still-life and allegorical scenes has been a source of sensual enjoyment as well as symbolic meanings. Feasts, starting with the Last Supper, are a sphere of spiritual and physical experiences, a meeting place, and for us information about the contemporary lifestyle. The food is associated with basic religious and relational symbolism, welcoming rituals, acceptance, connecting. Asceticism and hunger are another field of symbolic and ethical meanings. Contemporary artists still enjoy the sensuality associated with food, as well as the decadent and symbolic dimensions of overloading and decaying. As with cooking and eating, they also encounter physical aspects of the world in their creation. They are interested in consumption, the world of banality and its sensory and artistic grasping, the relationship of food and physicality. They decorate and criticize by meal.

An exceptional and creative way of treating food is still appreciated in history just like art. In our exhibition we turn the way of the preview – the art is presented on the dining table as a meal. We invite to the feast – this time especially for the eyes.

 

Exhibiting artists:

Jakub Berdych, Michal Cimala, Jiří David, Ivana Hanzlíková, Vendula Chalánková, Josefína Jonášová, Maud Kotasová, Jiří Kovanda, Jan Kovařík, Magdalena Kwiatkowska, Eliška Lhotská, Tomáš Medek, Ondřej Oliva, Karin Písaříková, Míla Preslová, Veronika Raffajová, Marek Rejent, Lucie Schubertová, Tomáš Svoboda, Dagmar Urbánková, Dušan Váňa, Martin Velíšek, Uli Westphal, Diana Winklerová.
Curator: Daniela Kramerová

Accompanying program – Saturday June 17

14.00 – 17.00 Art workshop for children with lecturer Marie Dvořáková
16.00 exhibition opening
17.00 fashion show (designs by Ivany Hanzlíková and Nicole Taubinger)
17.20 Kača Olivová (performace)
18.00 Lidová muzika z Chrástu (concert)
19.00 Nina Rosa (concert)

Accompanying program – Sunday June 18

14.00 – 17.00 Art workshop for children with lecturer Pavlína Janíková
16.00 – 18.00 Decoratng cakes with food stylist Petra Frýdlová
18.00 Vobezdud (concert)