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Headlands Center for the Arts Presents Bay Area Debut of Conflict Kitchen: The Two Koreas
From left to right: Conflict Kitchen, Iran; a sweet stuffed pancake from South Korea called Hotteok; Conflict Kitchen, Venezeula; Naengmyeon, a spicy chilled noodle dish from North Korea.
The cuisines of North Korea and South Korea take center stage as social practice artists Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski’s Pittsburgh-based Conflict Kitchen project takes over the Mess Hall at Headlands for an evening that blends food, culture and politics in ways that are by turns delicious, enlightening and provocative
Sunday, May 12 in the Mess Hall at Headlands Center for the Arts at 6:30 pm; Tickets are $35.00 ($30.00 for members)
April 25, 2013, San Francisco – While the reality of conflict within a kitchen is nothing new to anyone who has worked in a professional one, Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski’s Conflict Kitchen takes it to a different level altogether—using food to expand American understanding of international conflict.
Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves food from countries with which the United States is in conflict. Rotating its cuisine in response to current geopolitical events, the project has dished-out meals from Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, and Venezuela. Each iteration of the project is augmented by events, performances, and discussions that expand the diners’ engagement with the culture, politics, and issues at stake within the focus country.
For their Bay Area debut at Headlands, Rubin and Weleski bring together the tastes and cultural perspectives of North and South Korea—two countries in conflict with one another and both in complicated relationships with the United States. Diners gain a glimpse into the human side of the complex international situation through the multi-course Korean meal and accompanying Q&A style presentation by the artists.
Korea of course is currently a matter of intense international interest. But it has also become a focus for the Bay Area since San Francisco author Adam Johnson was just awarded the Pulitzer for his book, The Orphan Master’s Son, which takes place in the modern political and cultural tumult of North Korea.
“One of the goals of Conflict Kitchen” Weleski states, “is to reformat the preexisting social relations of food and economic exchange to engage the general public in discussions about countries, cultures, and people that they might know little about outside of the polarizing rhetoric of U.S. politics and the narrow lens of media headlines.”
Conflict Kitchen: the Two Koreas continues Headlands’ long tradition of supporting social practice artists — a discipline that blurs the lines between art, cultural experience, and activism. “As raw material for sensorial experience, a basis for social gathering, a channel for self- expression, and a leading indicator of identity, group inclusion and exclusion, food is, of course, a fundamental means of culture itself,” says Headlands Program Director Brian Karl. “With Conflict Kitchen , Headlands Center for the Arts adds to its rich series of offerings where food takes center stage as consumable culture and thought-provoking participatory experience.”
The menu will represent the cuisines of both cultures who share common traditions, but exemplify regional differences that have been exacerbated by the conflict between the two countries and their very different economies.
From South Korea, spicy braised rice cakes known as Tteokbokki , beef short ribs called Galbijjim, and a sweet stuffed pancake called Hotteok are candidates for the final menu.
From North Korea, menu contenders include a stuffed squid dish known as Ojingae Sundae, a chilled buckwheat noodle dish called Naengmyeon and a stuffed pumpkin rice cake with the name Hobaktteok.
Dining Details Rubin and Weleski expand the experience beyond the culinary by assigning diners to sit in either the north or south. With the long tables of Headlands' mess hall acting as the so-called DMZ, those on the North side will sit across from those on the South, so each can observe the food of their close, but disconnected neighbors. The role-playing experience will be further enhanced with custom designed placemats containing first-person stories from citizens of both countries.
Food will be paired with wine and beer.
What: Headlands Center for the Arts Presents Conflict Kitchen When: Sunday, May 12 at 6:30pm Where: The Mess Hall at Headlands Center for the Arts; 944 Simmonds Road, Sausalito, CA 94965 Cost: $35.00 for public; $30.00 for Headlands Members Tickets: http://www.headlands.org/event/conflict-kitchen-the-two-koreas/
About Conflict Kitchen Conflict Kitchen is a project by Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski and is funded by the Sprout Fund, The Waffle Shop, The Benter Foundation, the Center for the Arts in Society, The Studio for Creative Inquiry, and the sale of food.
Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. The food is served out of a take-out style storefront, which rotates identities every 6 months to highlight another country. Each iteration of Conflict Kitchen is augmented by events, performances, and discussion about the culture, politics and issues at stake with each country on which they focus. Currently they are introducing customers to the food, culture and thoughts of those living in Iran. Iranian version introduces our customers to the food, culture, and thoughts of people living in Iran and those that have immigrated to the U.S. Developed in collaboration with members of the Iranian community, the food comes packaged in take out boxes sealed with stickers and custom- designed wrappers that include interviews with Iranians both in Iran and the United States on subjects ranging from culture to politics.
About Headlands Center for the Arts Headlands Center for the Arts provides an unparalleled environment for the creative process and the development of new work and ideas. For more than three decades, Headlands has presented an array of dynamic programs for artists and the public—including residencies, lectures and performances, Open Houses, community-based projects, publications and commissions —designed to enhance the reflection, dialogue and exchange that builds understanding of and appreciation for the role of the artist and art in society.
More than 1,000 artists from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds have spent concentrated periods of time at Headlands, often alongside scholars, activists and other luminaries and professionals forging the contemporary cultural landscape. Among Headlands esteemed alumni are: poet and author of Precious, Sapphire; musician William Oldham aka Bonnie Prince Billy; Guggenheim Fellows Sam Green, Amy Franceschini and Matthew Coolidge; installation artist Camille Utterbach; writer Daniel Alarcón; and Whitney Biennial alumnae William Cordova, Julian Mehretu, Sanford Biggers, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla.
Headlands’ reputation for creative exploration is world renowned, impacting every artistic discipline and influencing communities from Bangkok and Berlin to Stockholm and New York. Incorporated in 1982 by a founding Board of Directors comprised primarily of local artists, Headlands secured a long-term Cooperative Agreement for use of buildings within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1994. Twenty-twelve marked the 30-year anniversary for Headlands Center for the Arts. More information at headlands.org
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