Meal: Rirkrit Tiravanija at The International Institute of St. Louis

The newly updated IISTL kitchen opens with a shared meal with artist Rirkrit Tiravanija and a collaborative team of St. Louis cooks. Meals are free but donations to support the cooks and longevity of the project are welcome.

Rirkrit Tiravanija is known for a practice that overturns traditional exhibition formats in favor of social interactions through the sharing of everyday activities such as cooking, eating, and reading. Creating environments that reject the primacy of the art object and instead focus on use value and the bringing of people together through simple acts and environments of communal care, Tiravanija’s work challenges expectations around labor and virtuosity.

This year, Tiravanija with Soph Anderson, CB Roman, Giorgia Alliata di Montereale, and St. Louis cooks will create a series of pop up community meals at the International Institute of St. Louis, a nonprofit organization that has welcomed immigrants and refugees to St. Louis for over 100 years. Through this project, Counterpublic is supporting upgrades to the kitchen and cafeteria at the International Institute, and long-term gathering spaces for the IISTL community long after the exhibition is over.

Many thanks to our local cooking team: Alex Braden, Jeena Gurung, Mudasir Ibrahim Khil, Queenie Vesey, and Nancy Etzkorn.

To RSVP, please complete the Opening Weekend registration form.