Maggie in Rotterdam: The Fine Arts Welcoming Meal, on a Rainbow Lazy Susan

Our first assignment as exchange students new to Willem de Kooning's fine arts department was to collectively host a meal for all third-year fine art students and teachers last Wednesday. I explained our working process in a post below as we decided how we wanted to hold the meal, planning to make a huge rotating table like a lazy susan and thinking of different rules and games to play as we ate our food. At first I balked at the idea of fabricating such a big and complicated object collaboratively and with about a week to prepare, but miraculously we brought it together with scrapwood found around the studio, held together precariously with a lot of screws, and a wheeled dolly underneath. Eventually we decided that the finished product was so impressive that it wasn't necessary to complicate or overshadow it with more performative actions added on, and we painted some of the wood pieces and kept the idea of sorting food by color.

It was a great initiatory experience to collaborate on such an open-ended and seemingly simple project as preparing for a meal, and in the end building the table was an accomplishment we were all proud of. There were times however that I could feel our functioning as a group splintering- when using power tools we split cleanly by gender with the men using the screwdrivers and the women gathering to discuss the conceptual aspects of the project. This irritated me greatly and I tried to call the entire group to talk concepts together as a whole, with some success, though I was disappointed with how quickly we divided when it came to working with our hands, even with women acknowledging this divide. It was a simple and seemingly innocuous incident, but one that revealed to me how I have grown used to participating in groups which make a conscious effort to abolish gender stereotypes.

I didn't expect how visually stimulating and satisfying it would be to sort food by color, particularly on our already vibrantly painted table. It was an unusual array of things to eat, but it looked marvelous. I brought some clementines and sweet orange peppers. We were also asked to each bring a conversation piece- anything we liked that we thought would spark a dialogue.

Beginning to fill up with goodies

Mair's conversation piece, a rabbit head that she taxidermied.

Eventually we had all eighteen exchange fine arts students, ten or so more resident students, and five or six teachers crammed around the table on the floor and on assorted seats- couch cushions, an old rug, some car tires. By then the table was brimming with food, not quite as color-coordinated as before due to unsuspecting students bringing more items. We had planned to start with my conversation piece, which was a name game, so I asked everyone to sit, welcomed them to the meal, and we each shared our name, where we're from, and if we were a vegetable which one we would be. I also asked that when each person said their name that we all shout "Hi (so-and-so)!" back to them. It was a great success and I was glad that everyone enjoyed it, particularly having their names shouted back to them. Though I thought it to be just one of many conversation pieces, it ended up being the icebreaker by which to begin the meal and a great way to bring a feeling of community to a group of mostly strangers. For me, it was a successful repurposing of camp/Quaker strategies for building community into an unsuspecting group of adults.

We then had a lovely time stuffing our faces with sugar and fruit, with a break to hear our teachers propose their project ideas for us. We can decide which we like best and pick one or a few or none, and supplement our work with some prompts and assignments. We can also request time for group critiques at any point and in any place, which will be a great way to get feedback whenever I need it and to have a fixed group of people with which to experiment on collaborations, performances, and interactive or public work.

Another classmate took a video of the name game and other points during the meal which I hope to re-post here soon.