'Restaurant Transformable' is an umbrella term for artistic positions, which deal with 'Cooking'. In this context cooking performances are combined with architectural elements and fine art.
The setup, in which 'Restaurant Transformable'-performances take place, is temporary and flexibly configurable. Its adaptation in size and configuration depends on the demands of the space and the kind of performance, happening inside. After its use for performances or exhibitions it disappears completely.
Interpassive - Interactive
Interpassivity is a theory from the field of cultural studies and psychoanalysis, coined by Dr. Robert Pfaller and others. Interpassivity is the practice, to delegate own actions and perceptions to exterior objects, that is human beings or things. (Source: Wikipedia)
Never before, there was so much media coverage about the topic of cooking and preparation, for example in books and TV-shows. The impression arises, that the handcraft of 'Cooking' is, again, a widely spread and honored practice. In fact, the opposite is the case. People consume these media; however, it never comes to the action itself.
The theory of interpassivity describes this effect. By creating private archives with pictures, sounds and text information and the connected passive occupation with the practice, the process, the cooking itself, gets delegated to the media. The performances of 'Restaurant Transformable' deal with this effect and turn away from the passive theory to the staged practice. The kitchen, in which the orchestration takes place, works with the participation of the attending audience only. In the end, without interaction there is no result, thus no food.
Audiovisual Surrounding
In special situations, the preparation processes get electronically amplified, depending on local factors, under which the performances take place.
The electronic reprocessing occurs by taking the sounds and pictures of the cooking process, which get processed and intensified in a digital setting, and are then played back into the space in an abstract form.
To process these sources, microphones and cameras are installed into the environment.
Orchestrated Recipes
To ensure an efficient interaction for the audience, the applied recipes are split into small precise work steps. Contrary to common restaurant-kitchens, in which several work steps are processed in one place, at 'Restaurant Transformable' there is a specially adapted space for each work step. During the configuration of the kitchen, which reminds of a conveyor belt, these detailed work steps get marked on the work surfaces. The instructions are carried out in several aesthetic forms; as handwritten texts, graphics or flowcharts, or in digital form.
Since the arrangements of procedures and cooking instructions depend on the selected recipes, the kitchen has to be converted appropriately, including all details and elements, as soon as the recipe changes. This calls for a modular kitchen system, which can be adapted with little effort.
These methods create spaces that can be interpreted like an orchestration of recipes. In the end the recipe dictates the configuration of the space.
Food-Objects
Before and after the performances Rainer Prohaska works on drawings, flowcharts, drip-paintings and sculptures. He picks up the topics and recipes of the performances, and supports them graphically. A lot of these objects and pictures are made entirely with leftovers and waste, produced during the performances.
People:
Rainer Prohaska: Concept, artist, chef
Eva Grumeth / Grundvier: Production, set design
Dominik Traun: Sound
