Performance Test Kitchen Hosted by Mark Jeffery

High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary (2019)

In Daily Bread, performing is a way to move forward (of knowing). Through live music by Amanda Bailey and Tamas Vilaghy, meditation and the creation of a meal by Gabriel Chalfin-Piney, this work explores how we join the systems and people we come in(to) contact with.

Daily Bread was the creation of a salad consisting of local boiled beets, red onion, arugula and goat cheese. The performance played with the space in which hearing becomes interaction, the performers standing in the place between instructor and entertainer. The audience who chose to eat the salad were invited to put on a set of disposable nitrile gloves during the beginning of the performance and sit in the front row. The salad was then given to the audience members to consume. The performance became an auditory experience that fluctuated between quiet meditative moments, cacophonous spurts, and Balkan-inspired instrumentals. The mix between the physical meal created on disposable changing pads and the vibrant colors of the local farm products created a space both familiar and indicative of family-style dinner and a hospital waiting room.