For the first week of On The Table, artist and baker Lexie Smith invites participants to join in a game that probes the roles inherent to group gatherings.
In lieu of a menu, Smith has designed a game where each guest will be assigned a role by blindly drawing a title and brief description from a pool. There are physical actors and emotional actors. Aside from the Host, no one knows whose role is what, or what the other roles are. This meal looks at the isolation inherent to participating in gatherings outside of our usual social environments (and sometimes present even within them) and works to dissolve group hierarchies through directed participation and activation of ubiquitous expertise.
About the Artist
Lexie Smith is a baker and a maker from New York. She uses bread as a vehicle for eternal inquiry and houses her explorations under the heading Bread on Earth, an art and research project she founded in 2016. Her writing, mostly on bread and grain, has been printed in publications around the world. She currently works on programs and strategy for Sky High Farm, a nonprofit farm in the Hudson Valley, NY, dedicated to diminishing food insecurity and empowering greater food sovereignty. She splits her time between the Hudson Valley and New York City.
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. On The Table is organized by Emily A. Garner, Senior Manager, Campus and Public Programs, MIT List Visual Arts Center. 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 25, 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.