Michael Rakowitz - Enemy Kitchen video here
Michael Rakowitz discusses his mobile art project, Enemy Kitchen (Food Truck). The food truck will travel around Chicago serving a rotating menu of regional Iraqi dishes, with American veterans of the Iraq War acting as servers and sous-chefs. The food will be served on limited-edition, paper reproductions of china found in Saddam Hussein's palaces.
Learn more about Feast at smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/exhibitions/feast.
This project made me really realize how open the concept of art really is. Art can push through boundaries and even be of public service. Not only does the project address issues of war and veterans but it allows those individuals to be included in the art itself. A food truck not only offers people to engage with the culture through the food but through interactions with those working the food truck. This project expanded my view on what can be considered art and the possibilities of making projects that interact with community service.
ReplyDeleteYes! Music, fashion, architecture, food, recipes, storytelling etc. all contain creativity and cultural specificity. Various forms of cultural production and can lead to cultural understanding. Rakowitz and many other artists understand this and are able to put it to use to build bridges and new platforms to discuss and understand current events and cultural perceptions and understandings.
DeleteI found this mobile art piece to be a unique way to tie in politics regarding the US and Iraq. I really liked the creativity and symbolism of the Chicago flag being redesigned with the colors of Iraq's flag, as well as the food truck representing the vehicles that Colin Powell mentioned people were driving in. The use of the food truck connects the city and the United States with the culture of Iraq, while also looking past the political tension.
ReplyDeleteYes. I think so. Many U.S. citizens are obviously connected to the culture of Iraq and the project literally brings that idea home into local neighborhoods in Chicago (and to larger audiences like us who read about the project).
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