Rirkrit Tiravanija's Kitchen
Thai Green Curry Anyone?
A couple of months ago the Serpentine Gallery asked if I'd like to do an artist's talk about their forthcoming show by Rirkrit Tiravanija - this name might not mean much to you but the fact it didn't ring a bell with me was pretty humiliating as he's the 'leading light' of 'socially engaged practice' ... Anyway we got into a double bluff - I admitted I didn't know who they meant, but they were then too embarrassed to withdraw the offer - result I do lots of research but also work myself into a total twist about the whole scenario. I went to the opening and felt really critical of the show - this didn't help.
So spent Saturday morning resentfully doing some last minute swotting up and speed reading Relational Aesthetics (not recommended) - finally decided to actually cook something in the show in order to at least try and engage with the ideas behind the piece (which consists partly of two 'mirror' replicas of the artist's New York apartment, supposedly fully functioning with stocked fridges for cooking Thai Green Curry, the artist's speciality). Find on the phone the fridges are un-stocked, trawl round supermarket, travel across boiling London with mood to match and then of course thoroughly enjoy myself - showing off, arguing about the show and in the end having a curry cooked for me by the tour group. This including Illia, a Newcomer to London from Estonia, who likes the show so much he's practically moved in - yet none of the staff have spoken to him yet! I hope he's there now making pastries as promised when we all parted company 2 hours later.
A couple of months ago the Serpentine Gallery asked if I'd like to do an artist's talk about their forthcoming show by Rirkrit Tiravanija - this name might not mean much to you but the fact it didn't ring a bell with me was pretty humiliating as he's the 'leading light' of 'socially engaged practice' ... Anyway we got into a double bluff - I admitted I didn't know who they meant, but they were then too embarrassed to withdraw the offer - result I do lots of research but also work myself into a total twist about the whole scenario. I went to the opening and felt really critical of the show - this didn't help.
So spent Saturday morning resentfully doing some last minute swotting up and speed reading Relational Aesthetics (not recommended) - finally decided to actually cook something in the show in order to at least try and engage with the ideas behind the piece (which consists partly of two 'mirror' replicas of the artist's New York apartment, supposedly fully functioning with stocked fridges for cooking Thai Green Curry, the artist's speciality). Find on the phone the fridges are un-stocked, trawl round supermarket, travel across boiling London with mood to match and then of course thoroughly enjoy myself - showing off, arguing about the show and in the end having a curry cooked for me by the tour group. This including Illia, a Newcomer to London from Estonia, who likes the show so much he's practically moved in - yet none of the staff have spoken to him yet! I hope he's there now making pastries as promised when we all parted company 2 hours later.
posted by Nina at 11:28 AM
1 Comments:
Hi there,
I came across your blog while searching for Tiravanija photos for an upcoming presentation in my Art, Ethics and Politics class.
I was amused by your anecdote, especially since my entire class (but mostly my professor) is very critical of Relational Aesthetics, which, frankly we all feel should be over and done with my now (what year is it again?). I'm doing all this reading in Happenings, dialogical art practices (see Grant Kester's new book), which is tiring since I'm actually interested in photography. Anyway, my other major research interest is Adorno, and I'm working on the almost impossible: a post-marxist / dialectical critical discussion of all this work.
The truth is, I find it all quite... formal. Allan Kaprow admitted himself that he's a kind of formalist, but the others, Tiravanija and Gillick, seem to want to address issues without being clear on their politics. WHO exactly is this work supposed to address? Of course, Claire Bishop is a grad of our programme, so I'm probably a little more biased than most. Anyway, I'm finding it hard to distinguish between most of this work and any given community initiative by your local concerned social worker.
Any thoughts? You can mail me at: aolivez@essex.ac.uk.
Cheers!
Alexandra Oliver
University of Essex
Colchester, UK
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