ABSTRACT
Cooking and sharing the meal belongs to the dialectics of inclusion, hospitality, and rejection. In all cultures, meals are part of the most significant rituals accompanying pivotal moments in life, starting from birth and ending with death. Several contemporary artists understand the power of human encounters at the table, and draw on their artistic and community-making potential. I discuss two such artists in my chapter. Anna Królikiewicz and Rirkrit Tiravanija use food and hospitality to transform entrenched ways of thinking, unblock communication channels, and encourage communal bonding. Królikiewicz’s installation The Table was supposed to help narrate the local history of Gdansk. The narrative may strengthen the existing bonds within the community, mythologize and legitimize them ritualistically as a modern embodiment of the community’s past glories. Tiravanija works with food and eating, and this helps him build a bridge of understanding for people from different cultural backgrounds who meet in the multicultural city space. He cooks because he realizes the necessity of starting intercultural exchange, and believes that eating together can serve as a starting point for relationships and real dialogue.
