Eating and drinking are basic human needs, but the shared meal has always been about more than mere food intake. Sensory pleasure and enjoyment, the foundation of communities, the representation of social status, and ritual acts are only a few aspects connected with meals. It is not surprising that art has always reacted to our ways of having a meal, to our chosen dishes and foods—by representing, analyzing, and abstracting, in both critical and ironic ways. Artworks from the Middle Ages to the present illustrate the community-building elements of meals—in families, at public events, and in political and religious contexts of different cultures.

The exhibition includes work by Marina Abramović, Sonja Alhäuser, Atelier Van Lieshout, Abraham van Beyeren, Lois Bielefeld, Pieter de Bloot, Thierry Boutonnier, Götz Bury, Joseph Beuys, Catrin Bolt, Elinor Carucci, Heinz Cibulka, Domenico Cresti called Passignano, Josef Danhauser, desertArtLAB, Martin Dichtl, Albin Egger-Lienz, Christian Eisenberger, Jan Fyt, Gaetano Gandolfi, Floris Gerritsz van Schooten, Geldorp Gortzius, Robert F. Hammerstiel, honey & bunny, Nelson Jalil, Ulrike Köb, Maria Lassnig, Master of the Frederick Altarpiece, Maha Malluh, Katharina Mayer, Veronika Merklein, Jan Miense Molenaer, Izumi Miyazaki, Anna Paul, Klaus Pichler, Dieter Roth, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Christoph Daniel Schenck, Astrid Schulz, Gregg Segal, Taryn Simon, Stéphane Soulié, Daniel Spoerri, Jan Steen, Maja Vukoje, Franz West, Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Ramiro Wong, as well as historic artists whose names have not been handed down.

Curator: Johanna Schwanberg