Antto Melasniemi
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Chef Antto Melasniemi and artist Rirkrit Tiravanija will combine music, food, and performance in an evening-length event at the Performa Hub.
Schedule
Thursday, Nov. 16: 5pm-8pm
RSVP
Bastard Cookbook
At the Performa Hub, chef Antto Melasniemi and artist Rirkrit Tiravanija will organize a interdisciplinary exchange between Nordic Europe and Southeast Asia. Hailing from Helsinki, Melasniemi has received international acclaim for his projects in the food and hospitality industries, including four restaurants and numerous pop-ups at the Venice Biennale, Milan Design Week, and more. At the Performa Hub, Melasniemi will reunite with his frequent collaborator Rirkrit Tiravanija, the New York and Chiang Mai-based artist whose ephemeral installations that incorporate communal meals have placed him at the cutting edge of conceptual art since the 1990s. The duo, who have previously worked together on the projects DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY (2015) and Bastard Cookbook (2019), will combine music, food, and performance in a day-long event to encourage cultural exploration and hybridity––a memorable fusion of Thai and Finnish culture that could only come from these self-described "bastard brothers."
About Antto Melasniemi
Chef Antto Melasniemi works at the intersection of art and hospitality. In addition to running four critically acclaimed restaurants, Melasniemi designs social gatherings and edible experiences combining food and art. These projects have been featured at Art Basel, The Venice Biennale and Milan Design Week.
About Rirkrit Tiravanija
Since the 1990s, Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. 1961, Buenos Aires, Argentina) has aligned his artistic production with an ethic of social engagement, often inviting viewers to inhabit and activate his work. Solo exhibitions include the ICA London (permanent installation), Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian, Washington D.C. (2019), the National Gallery of Singapore (2018); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2016); the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2015), the Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2010), the Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2009), the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Serpentine Gallery in London (2005), as well as the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2004). Tiravanija's work has been recognized with numerous awards and grants including the 2010 Absolut Art Award, the 2004 Hugo Boss Prize awarded by the Guggenheim Museum, and the 2003 Smithsonian American Art Museum's Lucelia Artist Award.
Tiravanija lives and works in New York, Berlin, and Chiang Mai. Tiravanija is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts at Columbia University, and is a founding member and curator of Utopia Station, a collective project of artists, art historians, and curators. Tiravanija is also President of an educational-ecological project known as The Land Foundation, located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and is part of a collective alternative space called VER in Bangkok.
Supporters
The Finnish Pavilion Without Walls is supported by Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland, Saastamoinen Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Institute New York, FRAME, and Consulate General Finland.
Performa Team
Managing Director and Executive Producer: Esa Vincenty Nickle
