With art installations and cooking classes, Suho Paper Museum’s (樹火紀念紙博物館) group exhibition A Dining Scenery (用餐風景:紙,在方寸之間) focuses on both the act and art of eating.
Artist Ho Chia-hsing (何佳興) recreated his studio desk, where he takes tea each afternoon while working on calligraphy scrolls, while the three members of design team Zabu (雜舖) thought of ways to make a school lunch more aesthetically appealing. Japanese artist and frequent Suho collaborator Kobayashi Junko’s multimedia installation conjures up a leisurely picnic in the forest. During the exhibition, which runs until Oct. 15, Suho will host a roster of events and workshops topics related to how to prepare or serve food.
“We hope to change the way people look at what they eat and inspire them to approach their food from a different point of view,” says Lynn Wu (吳佩玲), Suho Paper Museum’s project planner.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
A Dining Scenery’s art installations show how mealtimes can be a restorative or bonding experience.
Enchi Chen (陳恩綺), Chiali Kuo (郭佳立) and Marko Cheng (鄭冠群), who designed Zabu, a cafe near National Taiwan Normal University (國立臺灣師範大學, also known as Shida, 師大), recreated a high school classroom with vintage furniture from their own collection.
The four student desks, as well as a teacher’s table, are set up as if their occupants have only just left for a moment. Onigiri and bowls of rice shaped out of papier-mache are carefully arranged in recyclable paper lunch boxes or on dishware made out of unusual materials such as tree bark.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
“The Zabu team wanted to show how anyone can use a few very simple, well chosen items to create a feeling of abundance and improve the quality of their lives,” Wu says.
Ho’s calligraphic renditions of the Buddhist scripture titled The Heart Sutra hang next to a recreation of his studio table. Written consecutively, the five scrolls allow viewers to see the small changes in each of the hundreds of characters as Ho’s mood shifted or he became more confident with the brushstrokes.
The table holds the three small brushes Ho used to copy The Heart Sutra, as well as a tea set with a tiny pot, the artist’s nod to the exhibition’s theme.
Photo: Catherine Shu, Taipei Times
“The teapot is so small that you have to brew and pour the tea over and over again. As you repeat the motions, it becomes a form of meditation and focuses your thoughts,” Wu says.
Junko’s multimedia installation is meant to transport visitors out of the city and into a cool mountain forest with a burbling brook. Large murals made from single sheets of handmade paper evoke sunlight as it shines through leaves or sparkles on ripples of water. Visitors who sit at a wooden table are treated to a surprise: The action of sitting down triggers a work by new media artist Kelvin Liao (廖克楠) in which a projector beams images of tea and snacks onto the table’s surface.
Suho’s curriculum of courses and workshops explores the process of holding a dinner party down to the smallest detail. A workshop on Saturday will show participants how to carve their own wooden chopsticks, while a talk next month focuses on teaching table etiquette to young children. Herbs and vegetables grown in a potted garden on the museum’s rooftop — including lemongrass, rosemary, basil, lavender and shiso — will be used in several cooking classes. On July 29, Belgium musician and chef Thomas Foguenne will host a “design party” at the museum, creating dishes made with locally grown ingredients.
Photo courtesy of Suho Paper Museum
“When people eat something, we don’t want them to just care about how it tastes, but also how it was raised and how it was grown,” Wu says.
During the duration of A Dining Scenery, Suho will also sell related items in its first floor gift shop, including Japanese brand Wasara’s biodegradable paper tableware made from reed, bamboo and sugarcane pulp; mizuhiki napkin rings and chopstick holders braided from tightly wound rice paper and silk cords by OEY, also from Japan; and hand thrown ceramics by China’s Urban Tribe (城市山民). Products designed by Suho include bowls shaped from long, sturdy mulberry tree fibers and a gift set with a pot, dry soil and handmade paper embedded with seeds that can be planted.
The museum will hold concurrent exhibitions and events in Taichung and Kaohsiung. Suho’s Taichung exhibit runs at CMP Block (勤美誠品綠園道正後方), 257-2, Jhonggang Rd Sec 1, West Dist, Greater Taichung (台中市西區中港路一段257之2號) through July 25, while the Kaohsiung edition takes place at the Pier 2 Arts Center (駁二藝術特區), 1 Dayong Rd, Yancheng Dist, Greater Kaohsiung (高雄市鹽埕區大勇路1號), from Sept 3 to Sept 25.
For a complete schedule and to register for courses, visit www.suhopaper.org.tw or call (02) 2507-5535.
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