First We Eat. Potatoes, Krauts and Artist Mukbang.

About

Artists:
Julia Gruner & Liza Dieckwisch (Cologne/Düsseldorf, Germany)
Vera Drebusch (Hamburg/Cologne, Germany)
Paddy Bloomer (Belfast, UK)
The Domestic Godless (Cork, Ireland)
Curated by Anne Mager

The exhibition First We Eat explores the sensual and social dimensions of food, eating and consumption. First We Eat is set up as a site-specific and participative installation, bringing together artists from Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Food is not only an essential source of energy, but an indispensable aspect of society. We celebrate special events with dinner parties and define our culture through cooking traditions, specific dishes and how they are presented in rituals and table manners. While Vedic culture praises “food as God“ and as connection to our surroundings, it is now undeniable that our modern dietary habits are one of the most significant reasons for the destruction of the planet. Food, its production and even its absence are highly political and concern themes like contamination, globalisation, famine and hunger strikes.

The participating artists invite the visitors to explore the pleasures of taste and cooking, while reconsidering the stories and origins of what we’re eating. In the tradition of the 1960s Eat Art, First We Eat understands the culinary world as an almost endless source of aesthetic phenomenons and social interaction. Together with Julia Gruner & Liza Dieckwisch, Vera Drebusch, Paddy Bloomer and The Domestic Godless, we transform the gallery space into a kitchen, laboratory and dining hall.

At the end of the exhibition, a cookbook will be published as a collection of unusual recipes and personal food-related stories by the participating artists, Catalyst Arts directors and members.