Start Date
26-5-2026 2:45 PM
End Date
26-5-2026 3:00 PM
Description
Food is more than sustenance; it is a carrier of memory, identity, and power, shaping both belonging and exclusion. In contemporary art, food has emerged as a critical medium through which these tensions can be explored. This paper argues that food- based art operates at the intersection of crisis and hope, revealing how everyday practices of cooking, sharing, and eating both reflect social hierarchies and create possibilities for connection. Drawing on anthropological perspectives, contemporary art theory, and the author’s own artistic practice, the paper examines how food functions as a social structure shaped by gender, class, caste, and colonial histories. It situates food-based art within the framework of relational aesthetics, where meaning is produced through interaction and participation, while also acknowledging critiques that question the inclusivity of such encounters. Through the work of artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lee Mingwei, and Rasheed Araeen, alongside personal projects including I Smell Curry: Beyond the Blanket Term and All Hands on Deck, the paper explores how food-based practices expose everyday experiences of cultural marginalization, from “lunchbox shaming” to the policing of sensory and eating practices. These works demonstrate how food can make visible subtle forms of exclusion while simultaneously creating spaces for dialogue, care, and shared experience.
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Included in
Where Art Meets the Table: Food, Art, and Culture at the Intersection of Crisis and Hope
Food is more than sustenance; it is a carrier of memory, identity, and power, shaping both belonging and exclusion. In contemporary art, food has emerged as a critical medium through which these tensions can be explored. This paper argues that food- based art operates at the intersection of crisis and hope, revealing how everyday practices of cooking, sharing, and eating both reflect social hierarchies and create possibilities for connection. Drawing on anthropological perspectives, contemporary art theory, and the author’s own artistic practice, the paper examines how food functions as a social structure shaped by gender, class, caste, and colonial histories. It situates food-based art within the framework of relational aesthetics, where meaning is produced through interaction and participation, while also acknowledging critiques that question the inclusivity of such encounters. Through the work of artists such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lee Mingwei, and Rasheed Araeen, alongside personal projects including I Smell Curry: Beyond the Blanket Term and All Hands on Deck, the paper explores how food-based practices expose everyday experiences of cultural marginalization, from “lunchbox shaming” to the policing of sensory and eating practices. These works demonstrate how food can make visible subtle forms of exclusion while simultaneously creating spaces for dialogue, care, and shared experience.