Food, Trixie, The Hague, 2018

Interested in the question What is Food? I invited four people to represent a substance they see as important in their life. The performance was set up during the opening exhibition of an art space at a big table. We served soup to the visitors and they were invited to participate in a conversation with the performers. The loose interactions were interrupted by periods, in which the performers where reading prepared stories about their experiences with the substance. I was interested to create an action which would be able to break the superficial atmosphere of an opening night and instead using the gathering of people to collectively engage into a conversation. This transcendence was approached by the intensity of the personal stories of the performers and their elevated states caused by the substance. 

The performers were selected related to their connection to a certain attitude towards "Food". Edward was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and treated with Ritalin. He talks about the benefits and dangers of Amphetamine consume. Jamal represents alcohol. Being confronted with social anxiety he praises alcohol as an important medicine which makes interactions easier. Stefano is convinced that psychedelics are very important for the human development. He claims that psychoactive plants should belong the the daily nutrition. Julia s is a experienced practitioner of water fasting. In her opinion periods of full abstinence from food are importance to sustain physical and mental health. In the performance Julia was in the seventh day of water fasting and the other performers were consuming moderate dosages of substance they represent.


Stories of the Performers