THE FOOD TABLE. Interactive Installation. (2011)

Arguing that food functions as a social facilitator, I was curious to prove its ability to enable interactions and relationships. Concealed as the food table at a gallery, attendants are invited to take from the spread of snacks. Four designated plates are electronically attached to four different audio outputs playing field recordings of parties. As the amount of food diminishes, the corresponding audio subsequently diminishes as well.

The choice of snacks are autobiographical. Each snack has cultural significance and their production and consumption reinforce ideas of comfort and belonging. Food practices, of ingesting, physically internalizing a substance, have a visceral and intimate nature. "In terms of ingesting perhaps more palpable art objects, taste plays a role in the process of "incorporation," where the art actually "becomes" the beholder" (Fischer 30). This visceral and intimate quality of food is shared amongst all participating attendants.

Electronic design by Josse Masters-Leniveau.

Fischer, Jennifer. "Performing Taste." Food Culture: Tasting
Identities and Geographies in Art. Ed Barbara Fischer. Toronto: YYZ Books, 1999. 29-48.

The Food Table was installed at Halo Halo Village as part of ALL FOR SHOW on April 29th, 2011.

BEFORE (7:00PM)

AFTER (1:00AM)

To view more photographs of the exhibit, click here.