COOKBOOK, ART AND CULINARY PROCESS

Culinary research is in the process of being recognized as a fully-fledged art form. How can cooking become the subject of an exhibition? 

 “La nouvelle cuisine” in the 1970’s and, twenty years later, the avant-garde Spanish and Italian cooking style, show the extent to which this evolution is marked by the necessity of constant renewal. More recently, the blooming of Nordic cuisine has given a ring of respectability to what has become known as “locavorism”. These diverse movements have freed the chefs creativity, questioning  the statusof the cookas a consequence. Just as cinema  in the 1950’s, the art of cooking has come to benefit from a “policy of authors” and from a discourse capable of decoding its motives and purpose. Already in 2007, Ferran Adrià was invited as an artist to the Kassel Dokumenta. But, as it turned out, his participation didn’t go any further than extending an invitation to a number of visitors to the Kassel exhibition to his restaurant (elBulli) in Roses …

The stake in COOKBOOK is the following: how to position culinary art within the domain of contemporary culture ? How to develop a more profound dialogue between artists and chefs at a time when the mutual exchange and influences between art and gastronomy have consistently multiplied ? What are the aesthetic tendencies and the dominant forms taking place in contemporary cooking?

In the central exhibition of the COOKBOOK programme, contemporary art will surround preparatory works such as drawings, sketches, collages, and videos executed by a number of well-known chefs from all over the world: Ferran Adria, Antoni Aduriz, Inaki Aizpitarte, Massimiliano Alajmo, Yannick Alleno, Eneko Atxa, Massimo Bottura, Michel Bras, Alexandre Gauthier, Bertrand Grebaut, Rodolfo Guzman, Daniel Humm, Virginio Martinez, Magnus Nilsson, Paul Pairet, Alain Passard, Daniel Patterson, René Redzepi, Davide Scabin, Michel Troisgros.

On the other hand, COOKBOOK will aim to set apart a number of components which make up contemporary culinary practice (such as the way of cooking, the table, the alchemical transformation of matter, the importance of molecular cooking and the structure and consistency of the ingredients, …) in order to identify the effects to, and the similarities with the artistic process.

Beyond presenting an umpteenth example of the relationship between art and cooking, COOKBOOK intends to show how, to a certain extent, both share common issues.

As is usual for each programme presented at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, COOKBOOK includes a selection of artworks from the Beaux-Arts collection, a personal exhibition of an artist revisited by a contemporary eye, here Gianfranco Baruchello, while the Belvédère will show projects by the Beaux-Arts’ students and graduates: None Futbol Club until 17 November ans Sabrina Vitali from 27 November.

Contemporary artists: Sophie Calle, Christian Jaccard, Miralda, Daniel Spoerri, Erik Dietman and Alisa Baremboym, Alice Channer, Elad Lassry, John Tremblay, Venuz White.

General curator: Nicolas Bourriaud
Curators: Kathy Alliou, Emmanuelle Brugerolles, Marie-Hélène Colas-Adler, Anne-Marie Garcia, Armelle Pradalier, Emmanuel Schwartz

COOKBOOK is produced in collaboration with Andrea Petrini. Petrini is an author, journalist, food-writer (COOK.Inc, Fool, Four, Lucky Peach, Obsession), road manager of the culinary pool GELINAZ !, and chairman of the French jury of the 50 Best Restaurants Awards.