A COLLABORATION WITH
LIMINAL
An Art & Technology Festival in Romania
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Summer Solstice Dinner
with Lunafridge
On this ancient fertility festival, to love is to risk.
What is Lunafridge?
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Lunafridge are Madeleine Botet de Lacaze (Astrology for Artists) and James Michael Kinlet Davis, a formatless collective working at the intersection of art, technology, astrology and gastronomy.
We use place, time and culture to develop recipes, rituals and performances that resonate deeply, amplifying the key concepts of the festival and the artworks. We deliver a narrative for each experience exploring the food; how it’s prepared, shared and eaten. The narrative is expressed in several ways: verbally, through performance, communal actions, or at its simplest on menu.
We question what makes us feel alive, what are we made of, where do we come from, what are our choices. Every part of every dish has a cultural symbolism, to encourage an awareness of the body as a set of tangible ingredients. Every performative action has a celestial interaction to explore the mind as a set of intangible components.
We build unusual synergies between the land and the sky.
We merge art, technology, astrology and gastronomy into narrative, performative and transformative experiences. Our holistic practice confronts industrial automation with locally foraged chaos, global homogeneity with cultural specificity, embodied habits with spiritual alertness to make the ethereal concrete.
We invite guests to share insights, personal epiphanies and gifts for others, to give meaningfully and receive openly, to participate with a willingness to change and grow together.
To make eating, doing.
LIMINAL FESTINAL
of Art & Technology
We were delighted to be invited as one of the artists presenting work at Liminal Festival of Art & Technology 2019
For our collaboration we brought together art, technology and spirituality through a performative feast inspired by the Summer Solstice.
The sun describes our identity and gives us direction. On June 21st 2019 - the summer solstice - the sun entered Cancer, a zodiac sign that calls us home, the home of the being.
The theme of the festival was The Unseen, Performing Surgery on our Inner Reality. This is exactly what the sky demanded from us with Saturn & Pluto slowly coming together in Capricorn with the South Node. Powerful inter-planetary movements have been activated that demand deep introspective development.
Astrology gives voice to this connection between the stars and the earth, yet the growth and seasons of wild plants manifest it without debate. This Celestial Dinner encouraged a pragmatic working reality of the new.
EDIBLE ZODIAC
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From Aries Chilli to Pisces Aubergine, we collaborated with art director Fay Marie Ramirez to hang fruit and vegetables as totems for every sign across the bar at Celestial Dinner.
For Taurus we baked large seeded crackers inspired by Spanish food project Bonaprofit to be broken and shared by guests with a voluptuous broad bean purée.
Diners came up to investigate their sign, examine their tastes, push their preconceptions, with much openness towards exploration and new sensations.
Astrology manifests in so many ways, for us this is just the beginning.
MENU
The Sky on the Night of Summer Solstice
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MOON IN AQUARIUS | capacity for change
Summer solstice tomato consommé
Peach, nâsal, mint
Purple sweet potato tortilla
Cracker sheets with broad bean purée
ASCENDANT IN CAPRICORN | working reality
Palo Santo blessing
Whole roast cauliflower
Raw courgette ribbons
Endive walnut & grape salad
SUN IN CANCER | to love is to risk
Basque Burnt Cheesecake
Linden tea from the table
Who Are We
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Madeleine Botet de Lacaze
art - astrology - performance
Madeleine is an Argentine-born artist and astrologer based in London. Her performance work is interdisciplinary - working at the intersection of performance, queer theory and astrological insight to address identity, belonging and presence.
She has performed internationally and worked with artists such as Marina Abramovic at the Serpentine Gallery, Ron Athey at Fierce Festival and has been mentored by Franko B, Ron Athey and Tim Etchells.
Integrating her two passions, art and astrology, enabled her to create Astrology for Artists, to communicate and reflect upon what makes us creative and what makes us feel alive.
James Michael Kinlet Davis
art - technology - food
James is a cook, cultural technologist and craftsman exploring modern ways to reveal classic taste and experience combinations of seasonal, local and historic dishes. From ingredient sourcing through prep, cooking, plating and service, he works holistically to craft compelling narratives that offer unusual resonance for participants.
After several years curatorial work at Tate, in 2011 he co-founded Google Arts & Culture, creating an essential digital platform for the most important museums in the world, and a way to tell stories of art, design, history and gastronomy.
Two decades passion for home cooking led to London supperclubs, commercial kitchens, event catering and the creation of Lunafridge with Madeleine in 2018.
Liminal Curator: Catalina Balozan
Creative Direction & Performance: Lunafridge (Madeleine & James)
Art Direction: Fay Ramirez
Celestial Menu: Lunafridge
Cocktails: Fix Botanical Bar
Live Music: Alexandru Pantazica
Location: Rezidenta Scena 9, Bucharest
Production: Ciprian Ene
All images and video by Vicky Polak