This unique fast is characterised by the bringing together of different ideals that preceed the desire to starve oneself. What if hunger is in fact a desired state of existence? We investigate the possibility to embrace hunger instead of fear it. Some do so by focussing attention on a political goal? Do you simply want to lose weight or detox yourself? Do you have a problem with the way we're eating up our planet or do you have an eating disorder? For whatever reason or ideal you're willing to embrace hunger, please join our fast.
Program Monday 19 may 1-6pm
On monday, as Nienke Sybrandy is dismounting her Soap bubbles project from week 3, we physically and mentally prepare ourselves for the foodless days ahead of us. To mark this moment we have invited Ymke Vertelman and Mariia Udod to perform Pointes, a ballet piece that recalls strong contrasts between the material and the ephemeral, silence and sound, physical instrumentality and endurance. There will be regular performances between 2pm and 4pm.
Then to connect mind and body Nathalie Ho Kang You will talk to us about the eating habits of a dancer and how she continued to eat like a dancer even long after she stopped dancing on a professional level herself. Nathalie will talk to us at 4.15pm
Then we prepare our beds for the first night towards our fast.
Program Tuesday 20 May 1-6pm
Most of us have already spent a night in Mediamatic, probably experiencing some form of hunger. We will use this day to prepare for the next 3 days of fasting while others have already stopped eating altogether.
The daily program of the week is determined by the tools each starvation participant chooses to investigate and subjugate his or her hunger. Most practices are open for the public to join. ARNE HENDRIKS gardens in the metabolic zen garden and makes a wall map about the notion of a desired state of hunger. MONIQUE JAGROE creates edible lip balms, toothpaste and practices her dj skills. JASPER VAN DEN BERG draws. ASIA KOMAROVA grows vegetables and prepares cheeses and fish for the weekend when we can eat again. DIRK SERPINSKI creates XXXL Mandalas of his favourite snacks. MASHA RU makes edible ceramics. CHRISTIAAN FRUNEAUX puts words on paper. MANON VAN HOECKEL stapleguns big fluffy foods & MAGDALENA BUKOWSKI takes pictures.
After 3pm TYRONE COLLIS treats the participants to a shiatsu massage.
During the Starvation Experiment Asia Komarova will grow and prepare foods using some of the aquaponics technology that Mediamatic has developed over the past few years. The food should be ready in the coming weekend when we are ready to have some some meals again. You are invited to join us for a tour of the AQUAPONICS facilities at 4pm.
Program Wednesday 21 May 1-6pm
Kickoff & Open Workshops
At 2pm we celebrate the kickoff of the starvation project with an opening speech by Arne Hendriks on the Starvation Experiment, and an introduction of the various participants and their tools for investigating hunger throughout this week.
Then ALDO HAKMAN administers his purging herbs to us which over the next day or so will cleanse our system. It takes between 3 to 8 hours to kick in.
Join our workshops:
EDIBLE CERAMICS: Geophagy, or the eating of earth in some cultures is part of the diet. Masha Ru will share how to make edible ceramics, and the public (but not the participants) can have a taste.
WOODEN CUP CARVING: make a personal wooden cup that determines how much food you'll eat. With Asia Komarova .
BIG FOOD CARGO CULT: Manon van Hoeckel sublimates her fear of hunger in the creation of giant foods made from fabric. How big is your banana?
ZEN SALT GARDENING: We use the metaphor of a big salt zen garden as a place to direct our reflections on hunger. Please share your hunger stories here and help the investigation get off to a fruitful start.
Program Thursday 22 May 1-6pm
Thursday, the 4th day of the fast, and the third day without any food for some of us will be about introspection and understanding hunger as part of a personal practice to achieve certain goals.
LOUWRIEN WIJERS talks and invites discussion about the longstanding tradition of fasting to achieve clarity in ones goals both in artistic and spiritual practise. With many personal stories involving the likes of the Daila Lama, Joseph Beuys, Willem Sandberg and Ben D'Armagnac. Starts at 2pm.
RONALD VAN TIENHOVEN will join the discussion and then gives a related talk called LIGHTNESS OF THE UNFED MIND. How does hunger transform into forms of creative sublimation? Talk starts at 4pm.
All day activities:
Wood Cup Carving
The Lip Balm Lab
Salt Zen Gardening
Non-Food Pencil Sketching
Big Food Cargo Cult
Starvation Wall Drawing
Friday 23 May 1pm to very late
The last day of complete absence of solid food Asia Komarova will take us on foraging tour in the neighborhood, looking for various edible herbs and vegetables to include in her menu for the following days when we will eat again. THE FORAGE WALK starts at 2pm.
BIG FOOD CARGO CULT: Manon van Hoeckel continues her production of big fluffy foods. In cargo cults people sublimate their desire for abundance in the production of symbolic goods that help to acquire such abundance. So does Manon. Join her at 4pm to translate your desire for food abundance into a cuddly toy.
All day activities:
Wood Cup Carving
The Lip Balm Lab
Salt Zen Gardening
Non-Food Pencil Sketching
Big Food Cargo Cult
Starvation Wall Drawing
XXXL Favorite Snack Mandalas
Our friday evening is for MELANIE BONAJO.
Program Saturday 24 May 1-6pm
Asia Komarova invites us to eat! After not having eaten for quite a long while this exciting prospect needs no further explanation. FORAGED STINGING NETTLE, soya cheese and salt-cooked fish from the aquaponics unit. Please share a meal with us. Served throughout the day.
We will go fishing with Nikos for aquaponic catfish at 1pm. Then Asia will put it on salt.
EDIBLE CERAMICS: Geophagy, the eating of earth, in some cultures is considered a compulsive eating disorder while in other cultures it is just part of the diet. Masha Ru will share how to make edible ceramics, and both the public and us can have a taste. After eating little or nothing in the last few days we're curious to find out how clay actually tastes.
TASTING SESSION starts at 1.30pm.
Arne Hendriks will give the first part of a talk about the Starvation Experiment and the possibility of EMBRACING HUNGER. The public is invited to disagree. Starts at 3pm
All day activities:
Wood Cup Carving
The Lip Balm Lab
Salt Zen Gardening
Non-Food Pencil Sketching
Big Food Cargo Cult
Starvation Wall Drawing
XXXL Favorite Snack Mandalas
Program Sunday 25 May 1-6pm
The final day of Starvation Experiment.
Today Asia Komarova prepares meals with SOYA CHEESE, fish and vegetables she's produced at Mediamatic. It's served in wooden cups we've carved during the week. You can still make one of these measuring cups to determine the amount of food you want to have in a single meal. Asia will smoke the catfish using the birch chips left after making the wooden measuring cups.
Manon van Hoeckel reflects on her creation of BIG FOOD and her initial fears concerning hunger. Starts at 3pm.
At 3.30pm Dirk Serpinski will talk about his XXXL Favorite Snack Mandalas and how they've served him as a tool to overcome his hunger.
ROUND UP: All the participants talk about the DESIRE FOR HUNGER already embedded in our culture and the conclusions of one week of fasting together. How much lighter are we? Starts at 4pm.
Ymke Vertelman and Mariia Udod will then close this week of not-eating with the performance POINTES that fills the empty space with lightness. At 5pm.
All day activities:
Wood Cup Carving
The Lip Balm Lab
Salt Zen Gardening
Non-Food Pencil Sketching
Big Food Cargo Cult
Starvation Wall Drawing
XXXL Favorite Snack Mandalas
Join the fast!
Lightness
In an age where everyone is affected by the weight of society, the overbearing fears of the economy and the heavy hand of government, 'lightness' is the way forward. Let go of the material and celebrate the ethereal with 11 weeks of 'lightness'. Each week Mediamatic invites a new artist to question the meaning of 'lightness'.
More information
Free entrance for Club Mediamatic members. Mediamatic, VOC-kade 10, Oostenburg Amsterdam. Open from Tuesday - Sunday from 13:00 - 18:00.
