With Irina Chernykova and Samuel Ray Jacobson
As co-founders of the SMArchS event series, two peers and I coordinated a volunteer-executed multi-part food art event series. The Masters of Science in Architecture Studies degree program in MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning consists of six discipline groups; this multidisciplinary degree program intends to be interdisciplinary, but provides very few opportunities for exchange between discipline groups. SMArchS students at the time voiced concerns for the future of the program, especially considering the impending change with a sixth group. Along with peers, we sought commonality and camaraderie, and are proposed several structured initiatives toward that end. The 2012 SMArchS Cultural Events Series fostered a greater sense of shared identity within the SMArchS program, and encouraged the engagement of the members of that program with the broader MIT community. With a series of volunteer-executed, evening-time, food-related events, Ingestatecture provided a much needed public presence for our small program, while also serving as a structure and platform for social programs, intellectual discussions, and collaborative design projects for the SMArchS group, contributing towards the overall disposition and well-being of the program.
1 – “Ingestatecture 1,” 9/5/2012. An introductory event, including a presentation of food art precedents in both photographic and edible form. A twenty-four course dinner, one course for each precedent, included the curry from Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “Untitled (Free)” (1992/2007) as well as a roasted turkey in honor of Lady Gaga’s collaboration with Art Smith. Held at 92 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA
2 – “Exquisite Feast,” 11/2/2012. Throughout the evening, individuals from local design community presented proposals for film, performance and architecture events to take place in Cambridge. Building on the theme “Have it Your Way,” and the precedent “Andy Warhol Eats a Hamburger” (1981), 64 configurations of Whopper were served. Coordinated by Antonio Furgiuele, held at 92 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA
3 – “Strivers and Strugglers,” 11/22/2012. An evening of heavy eating and drinking coordinated by Albert Lopez, held at 92 Oxford Street, Thanksgiving night, for MIT students unable to travel home for the holiday.