A restaurant can be art, but can an artwork create community?
Blog
Neofetou, D. 2023. A restaurant can be art, but can an artwork create community? Vittles.
Type | Blog |
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Title | A restaurant can be art, but can an artwork create community? |
Authors | Neofetou, D. |
Abstract | In September of 2021, I attended a friend’s birthday dinner in the garden of a restaurant in Stoke Newington. It was in the early days of our collective emergence from over twelve months of pandemic restrictions, and every social event still seemed infused with a deep sense of conviviality borne of people relishing face-to-face human contact. The meal itself, however, was probably one of the most underwhelming I have ever had. It was a three-course set menu, with a courgette and green bean salad as a starter, a main of rice with fresh herbs and caramelised onion, and a panna cotta and mixed-berry coulis for dessert. It was ostensibly incredibly cheap, at £7.50 per head, but the portions were smaller than airline food and, egregiously, the rice was so undercooked that it was crunchy. The restaurant, however, was not simply a restaurant. Instead, it was an artwork entitled Shamiyaana by the Karachi-born, London-based artist Rasheed Araeen, first exhibited at the 2017 Athens documenta. |
Sustainable Development Goals | 12 Responsible consumption and production |
Middlesex University Theme | Creativity, Culture & Enterprise |
Publication or Collection | Vittles |
Publisher | Vittles |
Publication dates | |
17 Apr 2023 | |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 2023 |
Deposited | 04 Mar 2025 |
Output status | Published |
Additional information | Vittles Season 6: Food and the Arts |
Web address (URL) | https://www.vittlesmagazine.com/i/114735499/a-restaurant-can-be-art-but-can-an-artwork-create-community-by-daniel-neofetou |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/212640
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