Cookbook

It was the Italian Futurists who were the first to take an interest in the aesthetic aspect of food: on December 28, 1930, the Manifesto of Futurist Cuisine was published in La Gazzetta del Popolo in Turin. From then on, full-fledged culinary happenings began to accompany the events of the Italian avant-garde, and food was used to stimulate all the senses.

It would not be until the 1960s, however, that the fusion of art and food would take hold and become part of a broader context: one in which artists expanded into fields outside the fine arts. A “departure from the studio” that resulted in a true immersion “into” reality. The artist “becomes” a photographer, writer, dancer, investigator… and, as far as we’re concerned here, a cook.

Among the latter, the Romanian-born artist Daniel Spoerri (1930–2024) holds a special place. Creator of “trap paintings”—reliefs of meals arranged in a composition based on chance, he founded the Restaurant de la Galerie J in Paris in 1963, where he prepared menus each evening, using the leftovers to fuel his visual art production. In 1968, he opened a restaurant bearing his name in Düsseldorf, which enjoyed unexpected success from the very start. Finally, in 1970, he conceived “Eat Art,” a series of multiples made from edible materials.

Of course, Spoerri isn’t the only one to blend art and food. The Spanish artist Antoni Miralda (1942) has also explored food-related practices, launching the FoodCulturalMuseum—an institution without walls—to examine rituals and objects from social, economic, and political perspectives. Or take the Italian artist Gianfranco Baruchello (1924–2023), who, in 1973, launched Agricola Cornelia, a farm project aimed at taking on the role of a farmer while continuing to reflect on his work as an artist.

In keeping with this spirit, the selection of artists’ books presented here offers a broad spectrum of this encounter between art and food that continues to inspire many of our contemporary creators.

Featuring: Laurence Aëgerter, Guillaume Aubry, John Baldessari, Thomas Bayrle, Barbara Bloom, Dean Blunt, Marc-Camille Chaimowicz, Simon Cutts, Anne Deguelle, Alain Delorme, Enoki, Tony Lee Greenberg, Erik Kessels & Michel Campeau, Sharon Kivland, Tanja Lažetić, Natacha Lesueur, Jean-Claude Loubières, Antoni Miralda, Valérie Mréjen, Yoko Ono, Tadej Pogačar, Clara Prioux, Robert Pufleb & Nadine Schlieper, Martha Rosler, Niki de Saint Phalle, Gilles Soilly, Daniel Spoerri, Erica van Horn.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)