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PERFORMA 07 presents "Bring Me
The Head Of...", a new experiential, culinary work by Turkish artist
Serkan Özkaya, which will have its US Premiere at Freemans
restaurant in New York City, October 27 – November 20, as part of
the second edition of the biennial of new visual art performance.
"Bring Me The Head Of..." is the name of a dish
conceived by Özkaya that will be incorporated into the restaurant's
menu by Freemans' chef Jean Adamson. The dish is the artwork: formed
into the shape of a head of an icon of childhood, cooked, served and
eaten by patrons of the restaurant. Freemans chef Jean Adamson
selects the ingredients and creates a recipe that fits seamlessly
into the existing menu. However, unlike other menu items, "Bring Me
The Head Of..." will be listed as an artwork for sale, and patrons
will be invited to consume and thereby destroy the art.
Özkaya's conceptual works are about appropriation
and reproduction; they usually operate outside traditional spaces
for art in this case, on the tables of one of New York's hip-pest
restaurants. This work is produced through a mutual relationship
between the audi-ence (the patron) and the artwork (the food), and
perhaps most importantly, it is about a unique experience with a
reproducible art piece, that can be created and destroyed as many
times as patrons order the dish.
"Bring Me The Head Of..." is also about creating a
new venue for sculpture—in this case, a restaurant instead of a
gallery—as a space for an aesthetic experience. It requires a cer-tain
leap of faith: in order to experience Özkaya's art, one has to go to
the restaurant, select the dish, devour it, and pay for the
experience in all its conceptual, experiential and tasteful layers.
Serkan Özkaya
Born in Istanbul in 1973, Özkaya has held solo shows around the
world, and has also participated in numerous group exhibitions,
including Steiler Konter, Bregenzer Kunstverein; Pre Emptive,
Kunsthalle Bern; 9th International Istanbul Biennial; public.exe:
Public Exe-cution, Exit Art, New York; Democracy is Fun?, Whitebox,
New York; and Placebo Effect, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin. Between
2003–2006 Özkaya produced "Today Could Be a Day of Historical
Importance" in collaboration with four major newspapers, including
the New York Times. Özkaya is also the author of four books,
including Genius and Creativity in the Arts.
"Bring Me The Head Of..." is curated by Defne Ayas,
Associate Curato of PERFORMA, for PERFORMA07, with additional
support from Tairone Bastien and Naama Laufer.
ABOUT PERFORMA07
PERFORMA07 (October 27-November 20, 2007) is the second biennial of
new visual art performance presented by PERFORMA, a non-profit
multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to exploring the
critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth cen-tury
art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first
century. For more information about PERFORMA 07, please visit
www.performa-arts.org.
Media Contact:
FITZ & CO
Dan Tanzilli | 212 627 1455 x226
dan@fitzandco.com
Moon and Stars Project
moonandstarsproject.org
nyturkishfilmfestival.com
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