the dinner

The performance The Dinner by Marcus Frimel took place as part of the exhibition Strange Attractor by Ingrid & Michael Grillenberger and Marcus Frimel during the annual exhibition in 2019 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. It consists of two parts. The first performance, which will be recognized in the first photos, occurred a few days before the exhibition. It ran later during the five-day exhibition as one of four videos on the screen. For the filming, the table was turned perpendicular to the kitchen. Vegan soup was served in oversized, bowl-like, white soup plates. The spoons on the other hand were difficult, oversized salad spoons. The performers were students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. Their attire, provided by me, were white clothes and white balaclavas. The roles of those who fed and those who were fed were exchanged. The choreography was provided with a beat. The previous page shows the second performance. This performance took place during the five-day exhibition. Vegan soup was again served. The ingredients were purchased early, before the opening time. The cooking took place from 10:00 am until 8:00 pm on the opening and on the long Saturday (the Summer Fest) from 10:00 am until 10:00 pm. The installation was cleaned afterward. The soup was offered to visitors for a donation. The donations funded the purchase of new food. The visitors were required either to find someone to feed them or someone to feed. The person feeding was given the additional task of cleaning the dishes and placing them back in their original place. The main interaction was between the person feeding and the person being fed. I hung back, staying as close as I could to my ego and my self-imposed rules of not leaving the room – except to go to the bathroom. I only drank water during the performance. Hunger usually arose only towards the end or a few minutes after the performance. Only two visitors allowed themselves to be fed by “strangers.” Often the action was performed in turns. Many viewers reported recalling memories from childhood and instances of care in their lives. Only once did strangers feed each other.

installation – performance – film | 18760 x 5400  x 4500 mm | 10.05 – 02.06. 2019 | aquarium | nuremberg

camera mathis hauter | all lyrics are translatet form german in english from dr. sarah w. lynch