A PLATE OF FOOD @ LANGTON ARTS

A PLATE OF FOOD IS
A MAP OF THE WORLD

everything in it can be traced
back to the soil
back to the land
back to people

Be it
for pleasure or necessity, when we sit down to eat a plate of food, we discover the flavor of an idea. Folded in a mushroom risotto or the wrapper of a hamburger, what is being offered is a rendering of the world, a representation of political, economic and social realities.

Over this plate of food there is often a conversation, all aspects of life are being talked about. In a restaurant, the same table may become the stage for business deals, awkward reunions, marriage proposal or calls for impeachment. All in the course of one night, all taking place in public, where diners, both actors and spectators, join in a discreet play, a theater of everyday life.

In the weaving of these stories and ideas culture finds a fertile soil.

Imagine a restaurant where artists along with cooks, servers, farmers, activists, community members and educators work together to unravel these threads. Using the elements and activities of a ordinary restaurant as a medium, they reveal, elaborate and challenge the relationships hidden in and around a plate of food.

OPEN soil (a restaurant as social sculpture)

Friday, March 28, 2008
Dinner seatings: 6/6:30pm or 7:30/8:00pm
Prix fixe: $35 (wine not included)
Reservations required: 415 626 5416

Bar OPEN: 6-midnight
A la carte menu: 9:00-10:30
No reservation neccessary for bar or a la carte menu

OPEN is a place to sit down and have a basic meal for a reasonable price. But as it exists at the intersection of performance and everyday life, it turns an ordinary business proposition into a social sculpture. All the physical elements and activities of this ordinary restaurant are available for artists – along with cooks, servers, farmers, activists, community members and educators – to develop creative projects that extend the vernacular of food to social, political, economical and environmental issues, thus making visible the web of relationships that are brought together in and around a plate of food.

OPEN restaurant, as a creative gathering of people and ideas, offers a stage on which to discuss, formulate and play out the issues involved in feeding ourselves and cultivating our communities. It will be open once a month, or so, at New Langton Arts and take different forms depending on the projects involved.The night of Friday, March 28 is the first night of OPEN, and the theme is “Soil”. OPEN is a project of Jerome Waag and Sam White who both work at Chez Panisse in Berkeley CA while pursuing individual artistic practices.

OPEN is part restaurant, part installation, part performance, so feel free to come and enjoy the show!
Learn more: OPEN BLOG
OPEN is made possible by the generous support of Art Berliner and Marian Lever.

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New Langton Arts
1246 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-3817
For further information: 415.626.5416