[artinfo] Fwd: Occupy the kitchen! | call 2018/2019

[by way of János Sugár]

>From: Franca Formenti <<mailto:info at zonafranca.biz>info at zonafranca.biz>
>Date: 2018. April 16. 16:57:01 CEST
>Subject:  Occupy the kitchen! | call 2018/2019
>
>Occupy the Kitchen! vol.2 | 2018/2019
>CALL FOR ARTIVISTS & RIOTING CREATORS
>Zona Franca | Varese | Italy
><https://occupythekitchen.org>occupythekitchen.org
>
>F O O D    P E R F O R M A N C Y
>
>    SUBJECT         call for Performance + Residency
>    WHEN              season 2018/2019 (from September 2018 until June 2019)
>    WHERE            Zona Franca, Varese - Italy
>    WHO                 artists, artivists, 
>activists, designers, gastronomes, creators
>    DEADLINE       June 30, 2018

>/// CONTEXT
>
>/ Matrioshka
>
>Foodpower - Zona Franca - Occupy the kitchen!
>2007 - 2014 - 2016.
>Three projects, one seed, a unique collective journey.
>Just like a Matryoshka stacking doll, one figure 
>is within and is spurred from the previous, in 
>an almost biological relationship. The great 
>mother, Foodpower, contains a second doll, Zona 
>Franca, which - in turn - contains Occupy the 
>kitchen!
>
>
>/ Border-line
>
>It all began in Varese, in 2007, in the North 
>West of Italy, in the land between Milan and 
>Switzerland, at a stone's throw from the Canton 
>of Ticino. A strategic border area, renowned for 
>contraband.
>Foodpower - and as a consequence, the two other 
>most recent projects - digs its roots into 
>thriving research which began in December 2007, 
>observing the changes in current society and its 
>relationship with food.
>As a prime element of contemporary society, 
>today, food has a privileged role which was once 
>dominated by fashion, and which is strictly 
>bound to the body. Food has taken on a strong 
>centrality within the contemporary psyche, 
>involving the most intimate sphere of our body, 
>passing through it, becoming a visceral part of 
>us, every day.
>
>
>/ Semi liberi__Free seeds
>
>From this premise and these experimentations, 
>Zona Franca was created in 2014, a 
>transdisciplinary project that explores a wide 
>variety of research forms between art and 
>economics. It's both a restaurant, a gourmet 
>take-away, during the day, and also a 
>performance space in the evening.
>It's a hybrid space, which is in continuous 
>transformation, where ancient seeds are the 
>metaphor of a project and are the essence of the 
>philosophy that keeps it alive. Various rare 
>varieties that aren't included in the European 
>register of regulated seeds are used. Once these 
>are transformed, however, they become legal food.
>Therefore, ancient seeds circulate in an 
>interstice which is not fully regulated, which 
>takes advantage of the shadows and folds of the 
>market. They lie in between legality and 
>transgression, just like a dark pool.
>
>
>/ Food Artivism
>
>The reflection at the heart of the project takes 
>us to the necessary understanding of ethical 
>choices, either conscious or unconscious, that 
>are subtended each day by our act of 
>nourishment. We believe that art cannot deal 
>with these dynamics, not just because of the 
>increasingly intrinsic relationship between art 
>and economics, but also because they are 
>strictly pertinent to the conditions of human 
>freedom.
>In this critical knot, in 2016, the Occupy the kitchen! project was developed.
>OTK! is a food artivism project where 
>contemporary practices that are connected to art 
>and economics are explored through food. This 
>activity - of research and production - is 
>carried out through a transdisciplinary approach 
>and an activist attitude.
>What interests us is examining the exchanges, 
>cross references and the osmotic ad/or 
>conflictual relationships between the global 
>economy and contemporary art, using food as an 
>expressive medium and investigative field.
>
>Occupy the kitchen! performs the status quo, 
>highlighting its incongruences, its black holes, 
>the tangible consequences (primarily in health, 
>society and the environment) with actions that 
>are intended to generate individual critical 
>thinking concerning the Food system which we are 
>immersed in, in the prospect of a greater 
>awareness and, consequently, a collective action 
>concerning food sovereignty.
>
>Occupy the kitchen! is therefore an area of 
>experimentation and activism. It wants to be a 
>place where reflection can become action and 
>wishes to examine and expand post-modern 
>consumer awareness through art and food. The 
>purpose of this project is to reawaken and 
>energize minds and mouths.
>
>Occupy the kitchen! pays homage to 'Occupy 
>Management!', the book by Monika Kostera, a 
>Management lecturer for various European 
>universities (in Poland, the UK and Sweden) and 
>historical collaborator of Zygmunt Bauman. In 
>the book, the author invites students to 
>self-produce and also to self-manage their own 
>lives.
>
>
>/// CALL PURPOSES
>
>The convocation is targeted at professionals who 
>- firstly - feel committed to the philosophy and 
>vision of Occupy the kitchen! project, who wish 
>to do a residency of 3 days to realize a 
>performance at Zona Franca art space during the 
>2018/2019 season (September 2018 - June 2019).
>
>The dinner-performances at Zona Franca are 
>performed by creators that have chosen food as a 
>research focus, interested in examining it 
>through live artistic performances. The creators 
>are present, creating dishes (a tailor-made menu 
>for each evening and performance is created), 
>directly manipulating matter, then distributing 
>the dishes to the clientele-public and telling a 
>story about peculiar hot issues of the Food 
>system through food. 
>
>The transversal principle of Occupy the kitchen! 
>performances and cultural events is the 
>intention to trigger critical thinking and 
>discussion around acts associated with food, 
>consumer choices, awareness of the system of 
>large retailers, and all of the area of actions 
>and values that we associate with food and 
>activate around it. With the intention of 
>reflecting upon concepts of globalization and 
>capitalism that are closely connected to the 
>phenomenon of compulsive consumerism, the second 
>live season of food performances at Zona Franca 
>will be inaugurated.
>
>
>/// WHO IS CALLED / WHO CAN APPLY
>
>The call is addressed to artists, artivists, 
>activists, designers, gastronomes and creators, 
>with the following characteristics:
>
>_RESEARCH AND/OR ARTISTIC PRODUCTION AROUND FOOD
>Those who have conducted, or who are conducting, 
>or would like to conduct research - or create a 
>performance - reflecting on contemporary issues 
>concerning food, the relationship between man 
>and food, and the relationship between humans 
>analyzed through food.
>In particular, professionals who examine 
>consumer practices within the global Food market 
>through art, economies, social-anthropological 
>relationships that are created around food and 
>through food, the effects of contemporary social 
>discomfort, the issues of food sovereignty and 
>eating disorders.
>Any creator that wants to think about and make 
>people think about the semiotics, proxemics, and 
>social, anthropological - but also and above all 
>- economical aspects that create, pass through, 
>define and bind food to contemporary society.
>
>_A LUCID AND ACTIVIST APPROACH
>It is our intention to collaborate with 
>professionals whose approach is both active and 
>activist, progressive, drawn towards 
>highlighting those fertile folds in the economy 
>of the food market, its industrial production, 
>targeted consumerism, and the social and 
>environmental pitfalls of these systems acting 
>both on a global and local scale. 
>
>_HANDS-ON APPROACH
>The selected creators will be called to a 
>hands-on approach, getting their hands dirty in 
>the kitchen and dealing with the 
>public/clientele. The direct involvement of the 
>creators is a fundamental prerequisite to the 
>'Occupy the kitchen!' project.
>
>
>/// TERMS AND CONDITIONS
>
>Only those performance proposals that respect 
>all three of the previous prerequisites will be 
>taken into consideration.
>Works that are merely a physical manipulation of 
>food and have no (generative) critical approach 
>to food both in social and economical terms will 
>not be taken into consideration.
>
>Administrative fee: ¤ 30

>/ Benefits
>
>The Management will guarantee the following benefits to selected creators:
>
>_BOARD
>food and primary essentials for three days' residency.
>
>_ACCOMMODATION
>a private room in a domestic structure, located 
>in 'Campo dei fiori' Regional Park, in Varese.
>
>_ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE
>a monetary contribution of ¤100 will be given to 
>contribute to any transportation or any other 
>cost of the artist in order to be present on 
>site and create the best possible performance.
>Note: Shopping and purchasing of materials for 
>the performance will be defined with management 
>group.
>
>
>/ Art Market Point
>
>We recommend that the selected creators foresee 
>the sale of a product/object of their own 
>creation connected to the work of the 
>performance, in order to be able to sell a 
>memory of the experience of the performance 
>itself with a symbolic meaning to the 
>public/clients as a democratic and accessible 
>piece of art.
>
>
>/// HOW TO PARTICIPATE / HOW TO APPLY
>
>The participation in the program is to be 
>considered valid only after an evaluation of the 
>following criteria by a judge panel:
>
>_PRESENTATION VIDEO
>The candidates should create a brief 
>presentation video (max. 5 min) where the they 
>present themselves and express:
>. the artist statement
>. the motivation behind the willingness to participate in Occupy the kitchen!
>. the performance concept.
>
>_PORTFOLIO
>The candidates should show previous work which 
>they feel is relevant to their selection to 
>participate in the project. These can be in one 
>of the following formats: book in .pdf / digital 
>portfolio / portfolio website / link to 
>platforms where the artist's work is presented.
>
>_ONLINE FORM
>To have a complete vision of the most important 
>information about the artist and their project 
>proposal, the following online form should be 
>completed.
>
>
>/ Languages
>This material can be presented either in English or Italian.
>
>/ Presentation methods
>The presentation video can be shared online 
>(Google Drive, Youtube, Vimeo) via links or by 
>sending it in .mp4 format via wetransfer 
>to <mailto:evelyn at zonafranca.biz>evelyn at zonafranca.biz.
>The same methods are valid for the portfolio presentation.
>The online form should be completed directly on 
>the website at this 
>link: <http://bit.ly/2oOkX47>http://bit.ly/2oOkX47.
>
>
>/// SELECTION
>
>/ Selected creators
>
>10 artists will be selected through the 
>evaluation of the 10 best projects and 
>performances. The results will be published on 
>Zona Franca and Occupy the kitchen! websites and 
>an email will be sent to all the selected 
>artists.
>The selected performances will be planned 
>(according to the availability of the artists) 
>within the Occupy the kitchen! vol. 2 calendar, 
>which will be from September 2018 to June 2019. 
>The selected artists will be asked to create a 
>performance at Zona Franca, Varese, on a date to 
>be agreed with Management. The performances will 
>take place once a month.

>/ Selection Committee
>
>The board of professionals that will select the proposals:
>
>_Alfred Agostinelli / photographer, visual artist, contributing writer;
>_Filippo Bonomi / chef;
>_Franca Formenti / [food] artivist;
>_Monika Kostera / professor and writer, author of 'Occupy management!';
>_Evelyn Leveghi / relational [food]designer, indie researcher;
>_Stefano Liberti / journalist, reporter, 
>filmmaker and writer, author of 'I signori del 
>cibo' and 'Land grabbing';
>_Alice Pasin / landscape architect, seedsaver, farmer;
>_Luca Rossi / chef;
>_Michele Angelo Rugo / Surgeon, Psychiatrist, 
>Psychoanalist, Eating disorder specialist, 
>Philosophy degree;
>_Francesca Sironi / Investigative Journalist (L'Espresso);
>_Oliver Vodeb / Extradisciplinary Designer, 
>Researcher, Writer, Educator, Curator, Memefest 
>& Lipstick + Bread director;

>For more information or enquiries, please write 
>to: <mailto:evelyn at zonafranca.biz>evelyn at zonafranca.biz