#1 / Under Construction Open Residency – Beirut/Milano. The residency, the opening:
http://www.undo.net/it/videofocus/1337961716
TRANS-ORIENT BUFFET, INC.
Frigoriferi Milanesi, Milan
Suburbs of Milan, a bus just arrived from Morocco, a three days long journey; in front of it a small crowd and large plastic bags, the flavor of the homeland; informal deliverers travel back and forth between Italy, Ukraine and Moldova, via Romania; microbus packed with goods – incoming and outgoing – and caregivers.
I collected food and beverages in these liminal spaces, neglected meeting points lacking of specific features – they are not squares, nor streets – but intensely lived. However usually considered marginal, this crossroads are in fact the center of the social live for a multitude of immigrants, claiming a continuity with its origins; here are flourishing relations and vigorous micro-economies, often informal. I perceive these suburbs as a space of freedom and reconnection.
The Trans-Orient Buffet, Inc. is a transit of food and beverage from the immigrant informal markets to the art world. Creative elites are starving for domesticated exoticism, but they are deeply scared of “raw otherness”. The food was initially perceived as potentially harmful, polluted or septic. I performed a talk explaining that the food was homely and fresh; I also taught them what I learned by immigrants about how the food should have been processed or presented. Step by step the un-familiar turned into familiar and the people start to enjoy the meal. The food was delicious indeed.