On The Table: Asunción Molinos Gordo

Introduction by Asunción Molinos Gordo

For the final iteration of On The Table, artist and researcher Asunción Molinos Gordo invites participants to explore the possibilities of what could be an “Excreted Menu”

Asunción will take as a departing point her project IN TRANSIT (Botany of A Journey) which consisted in a garden develop at the premises of Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, where she grew the plants that germinated from the seeds contained in 2 cubic meters of human fecal matter. The solid sludge was collected at Al Aweer treatment plant which services the main residential areas of the city, as well as Dubai airport. In this manner the artist granted the access to the seeds that travelled inside the intestines of global passengers, as well as in the guts of Dubai´s extremely diverse population. Thousands of food plants grew from the sludge, proving the role humans have as pollinators and channelers of other life forms.

What Asunción proposes at her session On The Table is an imagination exercise, where the participants will examine their regular food intake and guess which garden could grow from the seeds that survived their digestive system.

For a full menu introduction from Asunción Molinos Gordo, listen to the audio file at the top of the page. 

About the Artist

Asunción Molinos Gordo is a research-based artist strongly influenced by disciplines such as anthropology, sociology and cultural studies.  In her practice she questions the categories that define “innovation” in mainstream discourses today,working to generate a less urban-centric way of understanding progress.

The main focus of her work is contemporary peasantry. Her understating of the figure of the small or medium farmer is not merely as food producer but as cultural agent, responsible for both perpetuating traditional knowledge and for generating new expertise. She employs installation, photography, video, sound and other media to examine the rural realm driven by a strong desire to understand the value and complexity of its cultural production, as well as the burdens that keep it invisible and marginalized.

She has produced work reflecting on land usage, nomad architecture, farmers’ strikes, bureaucracy on territory, transformation of rural labour, biotechnology and global food trade.

Molinos Gordo won the Sharjah Biennial Prize 2015 with her project WAM (World Agriculture Museum) and represented Spain official section at the 13th Havana Biennial 2019. Her work has been exhibited at venues including V&A Museum (London), Delfina Foundation (London), ARNOLFINI (Bristol), The Townhouse Gallery (Cairo), Darat Al Funun (Amman), Tranzit (Prague), ART BASEL Miami Beach (US), Cappadox Festival (Uchisar-Turkey), The Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki), Museo Carrillo Gil (Mexico), MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan (Mexico), MUSAC (León, Spain), CA2M (Madrid, Spain), CAB de Burgos (Spain), Matadero (Madrid, Spain) and La Casa Encendida (Madrid, Spain), among others.

She obtained her B.F.A. from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she also pursued her Master in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice. She is currently studying Anthropology and Ethnography at UNED (Spain).

Molinos Gordo is represented by Travesía Cuatro gallery and lives between Spain and Egypt.

On The Table

Our remote summer series, On The Table will present six artist-designed ‘menus’ to respond to what is 'on the table' when it comes to sharing a meal today. Artists creating the series’ prompts include: Lexie Smith, Seitu Ken Jones, Jon Rubin & Habibullah Sorosh, Lexa Walsh, Asunción Molinos Gordo, and TJ Shin.

These menus are driven by current politics surrounding food access and sustainability while considering historical precedents of artists who have made art through communal meals. While some artist-designed menus may provide dinner party instructions or recipes to prepare, others will be imaginative prompts that invite creative interpretation. 

A new iteration of On The Table will be released on the List Center website every other Wednesday, from June 15 to August 24, 2022. Participants are invited to engage with the programs asynchronously throughout the season. Artist-designed prompts can be experienced anywhere and anytime. Visit the program page to learn more about the series.