In continuation of the ongoing exhibition, “Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art,” the Blaffer Art Museum will host Tony Marioni’s “The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art” on Thursday. | Paulina Rojas/The Daily Cougar
The Blaffer Art Museum has hosted a unique exhibition — “Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art” – from the start of the semester.
The exhibit takes the artistic multi-course-orchestrated meal and puts it under the microscope. This different take on food will be featured until Dec. 7.
The exhibition was pioneered at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.
At Blaffer, it has taken advantage of local flavor with collaborations with local restaurants like the sushi hot spot Uchi.
The two components that make up the individual events within the exhibition are a gallery presentation and a performance project that patrons can participate in.
Thursday, the Feast will continue with Tom Marioni’s “The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art.”
The exhibition grew out of Marioni’s love for beer. It premiered at the Oakland Museum of California in 1970.
Guest celebrity bartenders will be The Menil’s curator of modern and contemporary art, Toby Kamps, along with Project Row Houses’ executive director, Linda Shearer, who will both perform the beer salon.
“It’s basically a bar put into a museum as an artwork,” said Marioni in a promotional video.
Blaffer postdoctoral curatorial fellow Amy Powell has worked with numerous artists that have installed their galleries and exhibitions in the museum.
“Curating participatory artwork is a lot of fun and also a great deal of work. It requires every department of the museum to work together to organize an event,” Powell said.
“Most interesting for me is how many different aspects become part of the artwork than they might otherwise for other kinds of art — things like marketing, photo documentation and even the conversation during the event.”
The goal is to create an environment for audiences to experience the work and be social with one another at the same time, Powell said.
Those 21 and older are welcome to attend from 6 to 9 p.m. and enjoy brews provided by Saint Arnold.
For more information about upcoming events and gallery hours, visit blafferartmuseum.org.
