TV DINNER

L’alimentation recouvre plus que sa fonction primaire : nous nourrir. Un repas en dit plus que mille mots sur la culture, la tradition, la foi… Manger englobe à la fois une dimension politique, historique, écologique, anthropologique et religieuse.

Food has many functions beyond its primary one: to feed us. A meal says more than a thousand words can about culture, tradition, faith - food is politics, history, economy, ecology, anthropology and religion all at once.  

In the theatre, too, food plays an important role. One of the creative chefs rattling the pans at KVS is young artist Bert Jacobs. Together with curators Charlotte Van Buylaere and Godart Bakkers, he has developed the unique concept of Bureau d’Alimentation (BDA). 

BDA broaches various subjects through food. It organises meals orchestrated by artists. There is no set format or theme: every dinner is specifically tailored to the relevant location and time. BDA works with a diverse set of artists, chefs and institutes.

At KVS, dinner will be chaired by the renowned Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez. In his body of work, Grimonprez plays with the boundaries between practice and theory, art and cinema, documentary and fiction. Recently he started a new exploration into the commons. At KVS, he will be reproducing a television studio where you witness a live talk show while enjoying (vegetarian) tv meals and drinks. During dinner he will be accompanied by, among others, Vandana Shiva, an Indian scientist who has a prominent role in the alter-globalisation movement and offers worldwide, widely-praised contributions to gender issues, and Olivier De Schutter, a Belgian laywer who specialises in international and European law and human rights. 

Grimonprez uncovers changing ideals over a period of seventy years. What is the role of food in a family? What is the perfect meal? And how do we convince people to buy food? The evolution from common goods to individualism is clearly visible: from eating and discussing together at the table to a lonely meal in front of the telly, ingested without care or attention …