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Artúr van Balen, 'Sainsbury Chickens'
Food, glorious food! Until 30 September, Designhuis in Eindhoven will be exhibiting a feast of work by designers who explore the relationship between design, food and the origins of what we eat.
Food Culture, curated by designer Marije Vogelzang, will contain works by a host of international creatives hailing from countries including the UK, Netherlands, Japan and Spain.
Joining this group of talented creatives is Artúr van Balen. Balen has given supermarket-bought chicken a luxury makeover for his installation, casting Sainsbury’s private-label chicken in fine porcelain sourced from Berlin’s Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur.
James King, 'The MRI Steak'/ Marre Moerel, 'Food on the Table'/ Dejana Kabiljo, 'Fat'
James King explores the future of food with his Dressing the Meat of Tomorrow project. King’s imagination runs wild as he creates fantasy meals from fiberglass-reinforced polyester. Marre Moerel is showing pieces of tableware that have been directly cast from animal entrails. The gruesome earthenware and porcelain pieces are enough to turn us vegetarian!
FAT by Dejana Kabilko, meanwhile, is a big, pink and squishy installation that just begs to be hugged. The piece, made from cotton jersey, footballs and polystyrene pellets aims to highlight the benefits of fat and the prejudiced faced by people who are considered obese.
Julie Green, 'The Last Supper'/ Tomm Velthuis, 'Voedseltje Spelen'
Other highlights of the show include The Last Supper by American artist Julie Green. The installation contains 500 plates illustrated with images of the last meals eaten by inmates on death row. Green will add 50 plates to the collection each year until capital punishment is abolished in the US.
The morbid installation in Tomm Velthuis has developed a game that encourages children to play with their food – well, with pigs in a slaughterhouse. The Voedseltje Spelen game puts the welfare of farmed pigs in the hands of children and educates them on subjects including hormones, living conditions and pig castration. Not the kind of game you’d whip out during a dinner party…
Food Culture: Eating by Design runs until 30 September at Designhuis. For more information, visit the Designhuis website.
Image credits: Dejana Kabiljo, ‘Fat’ photography Christian Maricic; all other images copyright the designer.
