Another version of Relationships in Residence — except here food becomes the transactional object, and invitation into a quasi-intimate life/art encounter. In these performative meals, nourishment and hospitality are intertwined, privileging a space of care through enacting a politics of giving, receiving and being received.
[Feature photo: David Sebastian Lopez Restrepo]
Photo: VS
Descanse y disfrute, PT. 1 (Nov 2019)
Avecez Art Space – Montréal~Habana Exchange, Havana, Cuba
In Descanse y disfrute I cooked a meal for a group in the host’s own home. With food being closely tied to cultural identity and place, conversations circulated around resources, history, memory, and family. The first dinner unfolded in event curator, Solveig Font’s home, whose space also doubles as a gallery, Avecez Art.
Photo: VS
Descanse y disfrute, PT. 2 (Nov 2019)
Avecez Art Space (Casa de Graciela) – Montréal~Habana Exchange, Havana, Cuba
Dinner no. 2 happened in my Cuban accommodation, a cozy guesthouse in which owner Graciela spontaneously opened up her kitchen to the project — and then other house guests also contributed the creation of the meal. Local interdisciplinary (and food) artist, Amanda Alonso del Río became an incredible collaborator as well.
Photo: David Summerhays
Descanse y disfrute, PT. 3 (November 2019)
Avecez Art Space (Grados Bistro) – Montréal~Habana Exchange, Havana, Cuba
The final dinner happened in a top-rated bistro run by intrepid chef Raul, out of his mother’s home. An artist in his own right (having collaborated with several young Cuban makers), we joined forces, with Amanda also on board, and the three of us (helped along by curator, Solveig F.) created a memorable dinner-experience.
Photo: VS
Questions of Care, PT. 1 (Aug 2019)
Darling Foundry, Place Publique - Au risque d’entraîner l’éveil, Montreal, QC
For Place Publique, I invited massage therapists into a conversation about “care,” asking the question “How do those who care for others care for themselves?” Over a home-cooked meal that I prepared and offered to my guests, the discussion turned into a brainstorming session that led to the conception of a collective performance.
Photo: Hugo St-Laurent
Questions of Care, PT. 2 (Aug 2019)
Darling Foundry, Place Publique - Au risque d’entraîner l’éveil, Montreal, QC
In part two, a co-created performative action embodying our previous dialogue invited Place Publique’s audience to perform alongside us. With participants: Annik Baillargeon, Christina Bosowec, Amber Dawn, Chad Dembski, Chantal Lemieux, Shanthi Minor, Christiane Patenaude, Renaud Phaneuf, and Josée Tremblay. 
Photo: Ellen Friis
Cooking in Reverse (Sept-Oct 2018)
Body Landscapes Performance Art Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
In Copenhagen, I went grocery shopping with willing guest-participants, gathering ingredients to make (and eat) their favourite meal in their own kitchen. Inevitably needing instruction on its preparation, this “reverse cooking lesson” became a “performative of circumstance”: an improvisational cultural exchange/co-creation. 
Photo: Sylvie Tourangeau
What the Interval Tastes Like (Sept 2015)
Centre EXPRESSION, ORANGE – Triennial of Contemporary Art About Food, St-Hyacinthe, QC
Sharing a meal that I prepared with complete strangers who invited me into their personal space, these experiments in “spontaneous hospitality” emerged out of a residency curated by Sylvie Tourangeau. A final collective action with fellow resident artists interwove our many dialogues and varied performative approaches.
Victoria Stanton 