Food
A collaborative project conceived by artists Gordon Matta-Clark, Tina Girouard and Carol Goodden in 1971, during its relatively short lifespan, FOOD established itself as a seminal moment in New York art history. The restaurant-come-relational-artwork occupied the corner of Prince and Wooster Streets, neighbouring 112 Greene Street, the longstanding and instrumental art space. It is perhaps simplest to define FOOD as a restaurant run by artists, yet that definition underestimates the project’s multifarious functions. Operating more like a community centre than a business, the establishment was decidedly sympathetic to the priorities of its employees’ lives and schedules.
Before they founded FOOD, Goodden and Matta-Clark were already cooking for artists in New York and had developed somewhat of a reputation for throwing dinner parties for friends, mainly hosted at their loft. In 1971, they roasted an entire pig under the Brooklyn Bridge; the communal roast became known as the Brooklyn Bridge Event. The event was accompanied by outdoor sculpture and celebrated the opening of the Alternative Gallery Space on Greene Street. The sculptures at the pig roast had been curated by Alanna Heiss of the Museum of Modern Art, with music by Dickie Landry and the Phillip Glass Ensemble.
Following their ventures into hosting, the pair found the idea of creating a restaurant that served fresh food in a communal setting appealed to them. At FOOD, the dishes were as much an artistic medium as a form of nutrition. Typical of FOOD’s approach was Matta-Clark’s “bone” dinner: marrow and oxtail soup, the remains cleaned at the meal’s end and strung as jewellery for the diners, which mostly comprised fellow artists, musicians, and dancers from the Downtown scene. The project lasted three years, until Goodden nearly spent her entire family inheritance investing in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment