gastro
site-specific installation
Taste of Chicago
Celebrity Chef du Jour tent
Buckingham Plaza
City of Chicago
Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
July 10 - July 14, 2013
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Gastro is a common English-language prefix derived from the ancient Greek gastros ("stomach"). It is used in many words.
Gastronomy is the study of relationship between culture and food. It is often erroneously thought that the term is synonymous with the culinary arts, but in fact this is only a small part of this discipline. Gastronomy is interdisciplinary, related to the fine arts, social sciences, and natural sciences. (Wikipedia)
Below my installation, titled gastro, Celebrity Chefs of Chicago offered guests sit-down, three-course meals in a large air-conditioned tent. Students from the Washburne Culinary Institute assisted the chefs in preparation and serving.
In preparing my installation, I paint and draw with acrylic and ink on both sides of translucent drafting film. The size of the paintings used in this installation varied from small lengths of 32” x 24” to a large length of 25’ x 36”. Most of the paintings are 7’ x 36”. There were also 21 smaller paintings installed on each table.
The installation is created on site, where the paintings are shaped, twisted, bent, and combined with other paintings as they are attached to wires along the upper beams of the tent.
gastro existed for five days, about the same time as it takes for food to get processed in our system.
The guests are now gone, the tent back on the truck, and this artist is thinking of the temporality of all living things.
The photos are a reversed narrative, beginning with the completed installation, gastro, and then showing some of the installation process.
