Image: VIVA! Kitchen, Sonja Zlatanova & Andrea Dugandžić, 2017. Photo: Manoushka Larouche.

 

Deadline: Friday November 30, 2018

Since the first edition of VIVA! Art Action in 2006, the VIVA! Kitchen has been at the heart of the festival’s programming. Now expanded into a three-week residency, this unique artistic platform allows an artist (or a collective) to weave their contemporary performative practice into a functioning community service. As such, the VIVA! Kitchen provides both an artistic experience and accessible meals to participating artists, workers, and the public.

The VIVA! Kitchen’s artist in residence will take charge of the platform and invest the meals, the menu, or the service with their performative practice. In the past, artists have used their experiences in the kitchen to build a single stand-alone performance, others performed as they served the food, and some took a more relational approach by locating the performance in the way people had to share and consume the prepared food. What unites these possible approaches is that the meals, and the context in which they are shared, become the way in which the public encounters the artwork.

VIVA! invites artists and collectives with performative practices that involve working with food (cooking, serving, or eating) to submit a proposal for this unique residency opportunity.

 

Logistical information

Within the framework of the residency, the selected artist(s) will develop the menu and be responsible for the preparation, production, and service of the meals for the duration of the festival. Officially, service lasts 1 hour and the public performative meal is given a 90-minute slot that begins each evening of programming. Expect to serve approximately 150 dinners per evening.

In addition to the public performative meals, we require that simple food be available during the day for hungry artists, staff, and volunteers. The artist(s) will be given a modest budget to set up the kitchen with basic staples, as well as a daily budget to purchase additional elements for the meals. The artist(s), with the support of the festival, will also be responsible for seeking out relevant sponsorships.

The artist(s) in residence will receive performance presentation fee of 700$ (doubled for duos and collectives), a residency fee, and a daily honorarium for their labour.  In addition, a team of kitchen staff will be hired to support the artist(s) during the festival and volunteers will help with the dishes.

 

Proposals must include:

– A letter of intent describing your interest in the VIVA! Kitchen residency and relevant past experiences
– A brief artist statement
– A CV (max. 3 pages)
– A maximum of ten images and/or videos (including a descriptive list of this material)

All questions and proposals should be sent to: info@news.vivamontreal.org
(Please write “VIVA! Kitchen” in the subject field of the email)