On View Image
"Feast" artwork on display in a gallery
PAST EXHIBITION
Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art
February 8, 2015 - May 10, 2015

Through the work of some of the most influential artists of the last century, as well as rising stars of our time, Feast exposes the richly varied meanings that can be sparked when artists reinvent the everyday act of sharing food and drink with others.

Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art (February 8, 2015 – May 10, 2015) surveys the act of sharing of food and drink that artists have used for generations to further their visions and make connections with their communities. The artists’ offerings have transcended the everyday meal, becoming a way to create and share experiences that are not always possible in a fast-moving society. The exhibition examines this practice for the first time with the work of more than thirty artists who have turned the shared meal into a workspace for artistic ideas — from The Italian Futurists to Marina Abramović; from Fallen Fruit collective to Rirkrit Tiravanija — and the political values that surround the act of eating together.

Organized by the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, Feast showcases their shared meals, ideas, and the social, economic, and political values, including one-of-a-kind participatory events you won’t want to miss!

Related Programming:

The Big WAM Bash, February 7
Join us for a preview of the exhibition and participate in artists’ projects by Sam Gould of Red76, Tom Marioni, and Ana Prvacki.

WAM Chatter, April 8
This special edition of WAM Chatter will focus on artists and ideas from the exhibition. Presenters will use the 20 slides x 20 seconds format to describe how they incorporate radical hospitality into their own practice. Moderated by Sarah Schultz. Presenters include artists Sam Gould, Ana Prvacki, and Emily Stover.

Pop-up Park, April 20 – May 10
During the last weeks of the spring semester, the museum’s student group, WAM Collective, will turn the museum’s front plaza into a temporary park. Inspired by the pavement-to-park movement the aim of the park is “to shift perspectives and spark encounters that aren’t always possible within a fast-moving and segmented society.”

Closing Party for Feast, May 3
As the Feast draws to a close, explore design, health, and social practicies that inspired many of the artists in the exhibition. Make sustainable toys with local toy company Play from Scratch, participate in family yoga with Super Stretch, learn healthy recipes with Native chef Jason Champagne, and participate in artists’ projects The Greeting Committee by Ana Prvacki Ice Cream Social by David Robbins and I Eat You Eat Me by Mella Jaarsma.

The following artist projects will be featured throughout the course of the exhibition:

• Sam Gould | Red76, Additions/Occupy Your Home. Sam, the Weisman’s artist in residence for the next year, will be in the Target Studio building tables and chairs modeled after those by Italian designer Enzo Mari in his 1974 manual Autoprogettazione.

• Mella Jaarsma, I Eat You Eat Me, a participatory artwork that invites participants to wear a table and feed each other.

• Lee Mingwei, The Dining Project, a series of one-on-one meals with the artist held after hours within his sculptural installation at the museum.

• Tom Marioni, The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art, a functioning bar set up in the museum gallery as art where guests are invited to drink beer and mingle.

• Ana Prvacki, The Greeting Committee, a social performance where visitors to a museum are offered a taste of slatko, a traditional Serbian gesture of welcome.

• David Robbins, Ice Cream Social, featuring special cakes that update and celebrate the American tradition of the ice cream social.

Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art is organized by the Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. The exhibition is curated by Stephanie Smith, former Smart Museum Deputy Director and Chief Curator. Feast is made possible by an Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Award. Generous major support has also been provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Chicago Community Trust, Helen Zell, the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Richard and Mary L. Gray Foundation, the University of Chicago’s Arts Council, and Janis Kanter and Tom McCormick.

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