API for a meal
code, text
Part of Symposium on City and Nutrition
Kleine Stadtfarm
Vienna, AT
In preparation
Organised and published by Die Feldversuche Kunstverein
Physiologies of Desire
landscapes of taste
installation
glass, stainless-steel, uv & blacklight, quinine, water, sound
Tons are produced poorly,
tons are wasted, too.
Too much gets to some,
far too little to others.
Too much choice, yet, not enough diversity.
Alienated but quickly relocated.
New colours, new forms, new consequences
for land, people and health.
Unequal access, malnutrition.
Lack of sovereignty, diminishing of flavour.
No sun, no soil; efficiency, automatons.
The landscapes of taste.
Exhibition & Symposium on City and Nutrition
Kleine Stadtfarm
Vienna, AT
August 26 - 27, 2023
Organised by Die Feldversuche
with artists Paul Haas, Line Lyhne, Michèle Pagel,
Bianca Pedrina, Julia Riederer & Valentino Skarwan
Photos by Carolina Forer and Claudia Lomoschitz
spirals
marshmallow
pvc pipes, marshmallow
At REFLEXIVE FIELDS: UNSEEN SURFACES
as part of Springboard Art Fair
Utrecht, NL
June 8 - 11, 2023
Organised by This Art Foundation
Curated by Berthe Schoonman
with artists Muzammil Hussain, Su Melo,
Joachim Mestriner & Nosh Neneh
Photos by Carolina Forer, Almicheal Fraay, Nosh Neneh & Diego Virgen
Shawarma
marshmallow
Marshmallow Shawarma
with nuts, dark chocolate, tropical fruits and more
At SIGN
Project Space
Groningen, NL
January 7 & 8, 2023
New Years Toast & Apotheose FOOD PROCESSORS Organised by Marie-Jeanne Ameln & Ron Ritzerfeld
Photos by Marie-Jeanne Ameln, Diego Virgen
Tiling up, stuffing down
soft dilemma: to tile a wall at a former butchery space, or to touch, lick, taste and eat the sweet tiles!
participatory installation with marshmallow
At SIGN
Project Space
Groningen, NL
November 26, 2022 - January 8, 2023
As part of group exhibition FOOD PROCESSORS
Organised by Marie-Jeanne Ameln & Ron Ritzerfeld
Photos by Jedidja Smalbil, Marie-Jeanne Ameln, Diego Virgen
~250 kg
marshmallow
Performance by Yarre Stooker
At Fedlev Building
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Amsterdam, NL
October 13, 2021
Photos by Diego Virgen
MEDITAXION
At Roots and Wings
Project Fabriek
Het Hembrugterrein, Zaandam
with Studio for Immediate Spaces
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Graduation Show
October 8-10, 2021
Curated by Aleksandra Zawistowska, Emilie Bordes,
Katharina Sook-Wilting, Kristoffer Zeiner, Matteo Viviano,
Sheona Turnbull, & Stefania Rigoni
Special thanks to Frisia Marshmallow Production Plant in Harlingen
& Production Manager Jan Walstra
Meditations by Antonio Edgardo Cingolani
photos by Diego Virgen, Mathias Vincent
featured at Metropolis M
comfort
... or the (un)necessary–yet sweet & fluffy–pleasures of marshmallow
marshmallow pillows, site-specific installation
at Finally, Things are Happening
Maison Descartes, Amsterdam
with Studio for Immediate Spaces
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
June 22-27, 2021
Curated by Kristoffer Zeiner
photos by Elmer Driessen, Mathias Vincent & Pien van Gerven
featured at Mister Motley Magazine
My Connection to the WE
encounter and conversations with Philipp Furtenbach
with Studio for Immediate Spaces
at Maison Descartes, Amsterdam
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
organized by Diego Virgen
Spring 2021
Parasite Diner #1 Nixtamalizado
in collaboration with Ilke Gers
food, chalk lines with Ilke Gers, site-specific installation
menu: queso fresco & barley koji crackers, cauliflower mousse with sea scallops & szechuan button flowers, seaweed ice-cream, morisqueta (beans & rice), marshmallow and liquorice root with barley coffee koji syrup & bee pollen, tepache (fermented pineaple).
Nixtamalización is a process for the preparation of maize, common in mexican pre-hispanic cuisine, in which the corn is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution. It's mixed with water and chalk, the same used in construction and to mark playing fileds.
Parasite Diner is a series of occasional dine-in art shows, fermentation experiments, and take-out snacks. It is organised, curated and designed by Freja Kir, Aram Lee and Paolo Patelli.
The traces were on display 13–15 March 2021 at When Site Lost the Plot
Hosted by M4 gastatelier, When Site Lost the Plot, fanfare.
Generously supported by AFK – Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
photos by Paolo Patelli
wbk 57°C/8hrs
an attempt to make an emphasis on the cooking processes–its relational aspects–leaving the food matter in itself at a secondary position.
food, cooking equipment, interactive installation
February 17-21, 2021
Project Space 1
FEDLEV Building
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Amsterdam
photos by Stefan Meyer and Diego Virgen
The Marshmallow Shawarma
imagining alternative possibilities with sugar
12 STOPS
City Center, Amsterdam
9-15 June, 2020
In collaboration with Studio for Immediate Spaces
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
design by Diego Virgen & Leonard Streich
photos by Francesca Lucchitta
Hesperides
urban furniture
stools (~45x45x45 cm) and lower table (~100x45x45 cm) recycled marble, metal, yellow paint, oranges
City of Athens, Greece
March, 2020
In collaboration with Johan Devigo & Mathias Vincent
exhibited at Agora curated by Laure Jaffuel
with Studio for Immediate Spaces
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
photos by Diego Virgen
littering, loitering
spaces of transition
site-specific installation, happening
almond sponge-cake, lemon & coffee plastic, browned butter ash, paper cups, microwave & siphon
February, 2020
exhibited with Studio for Immediate Spaces
at Fedlev Building
Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Amsterdam
photos by Emirhan Akin
VICISSITUDES
mutations du travail
participatory installation
pigments, slime, video projection
March , 2017
with Lucas Ramond
at 10ème International Design Biennale of Saint Étienne
France
photos by Lucas Ramond & Diego Virgen
#table
social food
installation
plastic mesh, wood, various foods
12 May- 31 July, 2016
at Centre d'Art 116 Montreuil
France
in collaboration with Audrey Dubois
at Exhibition Social Food curated by Lina Tornare
organized by Germain Bourré &L'École Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Reims
photos by Diego Virgen
DELIBO
speculations about the future
speculative bio tech mouth protection for extraordinary culinary experiences
What would the consequences be?
photos by Diego Virgen
Food Bonanza
workshops on food & art
workshops
stoves, cooking utensils, various foods
November, 2014
at Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Amsterdam
in collaboration with Emil Kiær
organized by Stig Steiner
photos by Diego Virgen
What the World Eats
multicultural dining
dinner for closure exhibition What the World Eats
with photographer Peter Manzel & writer Faith D'Alusio
gambas, roasted and spiced nuts, potato pintxos, asian surprise salad of seasonal greens, tangerines, szehuan peppers and tofu, skrei with a creamy sauce of dehydrated leeks, blood orange galette with crème anglaise
15 February, 2014
at Nobel Pece Center
Oslo, Norway
in collaboration with Lisa Larsen
organized by Food Studio Norway & Linda Netland
photos by Asuki Abumi
embrace-me bowl
plateware
ceramic plateware
an assessment of a new plate-ware designed to improve nutrition and commensality
June, 2014
at Aalborg University Copenhagen
Denmark
photos by Marco Acero
about
Diego Virgen does research at the intersection of food studies, sociology, cooking and everyday life.
His work explores and encourages collective human encounters, rather than individual contemplation of produced objects.
He is interested in the traceability of food, from the production, procurement and consumption, to the dematerialisations, imaginaries and speculations, that revolve around the landscapes of food.
Diego Virgen is constantly exploring spatial and artistic methods to address conviviality, commensality and alternative narratives of food. Recently, his explorations have been revolving around candies and people’s approach to sugar from a sociological and artistic perspective.
more research at
critical meals, Wiltzanghlaan 60, 1061 HC Amsterdam
KVK 76548546 • VAT NL003097601B46
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The Social Act #9
with I'm a KOMBO
trouble-maker cup, the-power-is-in-the-finger cup & embrace-me bowl
January 27-31, 2014
at I'm a KOMBO
Copenhagen, Denmark
organized by Lasse Askov & Bo Lindegaard
photos by I'm a KOMBO