The companion to a one-of-a-kind exhibition at the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art, "Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art" explores the role of the meal in contemporary art. "Feast" offers the first survey of the artist-orchestrated meal: since the 1930s, the act of sharing food and drink has been used to advance aesthetic goals and foster critical engagement with the culture of the moment. Both exhibition catalogue and reader, this richly illustrated book offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the art of the meal and its relationship to questions about hospitality, politics, and culture. From the Italian Futurists' banquets in the 1930s, to 1960s and '70s conceptual and performative work, to the global prevalence of socially engaged practice today, "Feast" considers a diverse group of artists who have taken on practices of sharing food with friends, families, and strangers. After an essay by curator Stephanie Smith, the book includes new interviews with over twenty contributing artists and reprinted excerpts of classic texts. It also features a selection of contextual essays contributed by an international group of critics, writers, curators, and scholars.

About the Author
Stephanie Smith is deputy director and chief curator at the Smart Museum of Art, an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Visual Art at the University of Chicago, and a founding member of its Open Practice Committee. She is an editor of the journal Afterall, to which she is also a regular contributor. She curated the exhibition Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art.


Book Information
ISBN 9780935573527
Author Stephanie Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 380
Imprint University of Chicago,David & Alfred Smart Museum,US
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 1673g
Dimensions(mm) 30mm * 21mm * 3mm