4 whales in a soft sponge

“Tzara sends to Soupault: 4 whales in a soft sponge, two needles for the poisoning of trees, a comb with 12 teeth perfected, a live and agitated lama and an apple cooked with corpse ham. […] Arp sends to Eluard: a turban of entrails and of 4-room love. To Benjamin Peret: some boiled minerals some flags of ants’ nests.” * There are many reasons why the culinary arts were such an attractive genre for the avant-garde. Cooking is a discipline that is primary sensual: irrationality is allowed, creativity is praised. Culinary arts are controversial: what is considered edible and especially tasty is something that is constantly changing and being brought into question. Cooking and eating are performative: they are and have always been about performing wealth, class, culture, lifestyle. At the same time food is traditional and highly ritualized: a perfect target for an artist wanting to break with conventions of taste and conduct. 4 whales in a soft sponge freely re-interprets the absurdist cookbooks of the avant-garde, setting them in dialogue with contemporary artistic positions. Six artists and artist duos from Vienna appropriate culinary methods into their respective practices ranging from sculpture to performance and digital arts. * The title 4 whales in a soft sponge is taken from a fictional correspondence between Tristan Tzara and Philippe Soupault in the book “Dada au grand air (Der Sängerkrieg in Tirol)” published in 1921 p. 1 (Réimpression, 1: 119); translated by Cecilia Novero)