Exhibiting in a restaurant is fascinating for me because it merges art with food, the space itself, and creates a multi-sensory environment. This collaboration challenges traditional ways of experiencing art, which is important to me, as it blends aesthetics, cultural contexts, and personal engagement. However, I keep reflecting on one unsuccessful experience I had back in 2018 in Shanghai. In my opinion, the issue wasn’t with the curation but with my artworks.
Because of this, I want to research similar experiences of exhibiting in restaurants by other artists.
1. Marina Abramović – “Gold Rush” Dining Experience
Concept: The dinner was an extension of her “Cleaning the House” workshop, focusing on mindfulness and heightened awareness. Diners participated in silent meals and sensory rituals, creating a performative act of collective focus.
Why It’s Fascinating: It challenged the idea of dining as a casual experience, turning it into an exercise in presence, patience, and emotional connection.
“ The artist Marina Abramović—dressed in Costume National, natch—performed her hour-long piece “Silence is Golden,” during which guests had to maintain complete silence. No doubt some welcomed a break from cocktail chatter.” PARTIES. Before the Gold Rush, by Vanessa Lawrence. Jan. 13, 2015 [online] At: https://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/timothee-chalamet-a-complete-unknown-london-premiere-lime-bike (Accessed 17.01.2025)
2. Rirkrit Tiravanija – Untitled (Free/Still) (1992/ongoing)
Context: In this groundbreaking installation, Tiravanija set up a kitchen in a gallery space (and sometimes restaurants) to serve free Thai food to visitors.
Concept: The work invited audiences to interact with each other and the artist in a communal dining setting, blurring the line between art, life, and hospitality.
Why It’s Fascinating: Tiravanija’s work shifted art from an object to a participatory experience, emphasizing human connection and rethinking the artist’s role as a host.
Rirkrit Tiravanija, Untitled (Free/Still) (1992/ongoing) [online] At: https://arte-util.org/projects/untitled-freestill/ (Accessed 17.01.2025)
3. Olafur Eliasson – “Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen”
Context: Eliasson integrates his art with the daily life of his Berlin studio, where his in-house kitchen produces meals that reflect the themes of his work (e.g., sustainability and nature).
Exhibition: He has hosted events where food presentation mirrors the environmental and conceptual ideas behind his artworks.
Why It’s Fascinating: It connects food, geography, and environmental consciousness, making the act of eating an extension of Eliasson’s artistic universe.
Ólafur Elíasson, Christine Bopp, Lauren Mauer, Montse Torreda, Victoría Elíasdóttir, Leifur Kolbeinsson, and Nora Wulff at the studio, Berlin. Photo: María del Pilar García Ayensa [online] At: https://olafureliasson.net/soe-kitchen-101/ (Accessed 17.01.2025)
4. Joseph Beuys – Honey Pump at the Workplace (1977)
Context: Though not in a restaurant, this installation used honey and tubing to symbolize the flow of energy and social structures during the Documenta 6 exhibition. Similar ideas have inspired food-based art projects in restaurants.
Why It’s Fascinating: Beuys’ work inspires restaurant-based exhibitions by linking materials and food to metaphorical and political ideas, encouraging diners to think beyond the act of eating.
“A pump driven by two strong motors forces honey over a 17 meter high pipe into a distribution network, which traverses the rooms of the Museum Fridericianum.” Steidl, Joseph Beuys, Honey is flowing in all directions [online] At: https://steidl.de/Books/Honey-is-flowing-in-all-directions-0820314454.html (Accessed 17.01.2025)
Honigpumpe am Arbeitsplatz (Honeypump in the Workplace), Joseph Beuys, the broad [online] At: https://www.thebroad.org/art/joseph-beuys/honigpumpe-am-arbeitsplatz-honeypump-workplace-0 (Accessed 17.01.2025)
5. Carsten Höller – “Double Club”
Context: Höller created a temporary restaurant, bar, and nightclub in London as an art installation. It featured two opposing design aesthetics—Congolese and Western—and served a fusion of both cuisines.
Why It’s Fascinating: This project explored cultural duality and how food, music, and architecture can provoke questions about identity and globalization.
6. Ferran Adrià and The Art of Cooking
Context: Adrià, the chef behind El Bulli, collaborated with artists and designers for exhibitions like “Notes on Creativity” and a pop-up event in which art and food coexisted.
Why It’s Fascinating: Adrià’s work blends gastronomy with visual art, encouraging diners to see food as an artistic medium. He also influenced other chefs to partner with artists for similar restaurant exhibitions.
Marres, House for Contemporary Culture, 10 Mar 2016 — 03 Jul 2016 Ferran Adrià: Notes on Creativity [online] At: https://marres.org/en/program/ferran-adria-notes-on-creativity/ (Accessed 17.01.2025)
7. Jennifer Rubell – “Icons” and Edible Installations
Context: Rubell creates edible art installations in restaurants and galleries, such as walls of doughnuts or rooms filled with honey. Her “Icons” series transformed meals into conceptual art, including a project where participants broke into a piñata shaped like Andy Warhol.
Why It’s Fascinating: These installations challenge the boundaries between consumption, participation, and art, encouraging playful and tactile engagement.
Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery. From the 'Icons' exhibition by Jennifer Rubell, April 2010 [online] At: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/engagement-by-jennifer-rubell-london (Accessed 17.01.2025)
8. Supper Club Collaborations – Food as Performance Art
Example: Pop-ups like the Experimental Food Society and Bompas & Parr use restaurants to explore food as a medium. These events include edible sculptures, glow-in-the-dark cocktails, and immersive dining experiences that involve soundscapes and projections.
Why It’s Fascinating: These collaborations combine art and gastronomy to challenge how people perceive taste, memory, and sensory interaction.
The Complete History of Food: part of an exhibition curated by Courvoisier and Bompas and Parr held in London this summer [online] At: https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-art-of-the-experimental-food-society-j2m9hsk58wk (Accessed 17.01.2025)
9. Lucy Sparrow – “Delicatessen on 6th”
Context: Lucy Sparrow’s installation in NYC reimagined a deli where every item (sandwiches, soda, etc.) was made entirely from felt.
Why It’s Fascinating: The exhibition highlighted the intersection of consumerism, art, and food in a playful and thought-provoking way.
Photo by Heather Cromartie, courtesy of Art Production Fund [online] At: https://www.artproductionfund.org/projects/lucys-delicatessen-on-6th (Accessed 17.01.2025)
10. Wes Anderson – Bar Luce (Fondazione Prada), Milan
Context: Anderson designed a retro café inside the Fondazione Prada, blending art, design, and food into one cohesive experience.
Why It’s Fascinating: The space itself became a living art installation, with every detail - from furniture to menu - curated for aesthetic impact, making eating an integral part of engaging with art.
“Designed by the American film director Wes Anderson in 2015, Bar Luce recreates the atmosphere of a typical Milanese cafè.
As explained by Anderson, “the approach I used to design this bar is exactly the opposite I usually use for the set designs of my movies. I tried to make it a bar you’d like to go to five times a week. When I was really young I wanted to be an architect, and this chance I’ve been given to pretend to be a real one is a childhood fantasy come true!”.”
fondazione prada. Bar Luce [online] At: https://www.fondazioneprada.org/barluce-en/?lang=en (Accessed 17.01.2025)
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