The Omnivore’s Paradox: Critical Mouthfeel of Institutions

The Omnivore’s Paradox:

Critical Mouthfeel of Institutions

The omnivore is inclined towards diversification, innovation, exploration and change, which can be vital to its survival; but on the other hand it has to be careful, mistrustful, ”conservative” in its eating: any new, unknown food is a potential danger. The omnivore’s paradox lies in the tension, the oscillation between the two poles of neophobia (prudence, fear of the unknown, resistance to change) and neophilia (the tendency to explore, the need for change, novelty, variety). […] The eater’s life is at risk whenever they decide to incorporate; but so too are his place in the universe, his essence, his nature, in short his identity. An object inadvisedly incorporated may contaminate him, insidiously transform him from within, possess him or rather deposess him of himself.

 Claude Fischler. ”Food, Self and Identity”. (1988)

The Omnivore’s Paradox: Critical Mouthfeel of Institutions imagines the institution as a body and wonders what its eating practices might look like. What if we playfully employ the metaphor of eating concerning the admission processes of an institution? How could we interpret the often exclusionary mechanisms of our institutions in light of the anxiety-producing liminality of eating, where an object of the world becomes self?

Bio:

Andreas Engman is an artist, educator, and former chef living and working in Gothenburg. His artistic practice is rooted in a conceptual and research-driven methodology; he frequently seeks counter-rational strategies and speculative forms of meaning-making when producing work. A long-standing interest in his practice involves investigating the many productive entanglements formed at the intersection of institutional critique, political philosophy, the politics of food, and performance practices. His works are associative, open-ended assemblages that often meet the public through installations, durational performances, and soundscapes.