Tuesday November 7 starting from 6pm

Gastronomic performance by Monika Varšavskaja

Monika Varšavskaja’s gastronomic performance tackles the sense of taste and merges this with the scenography of the exhibition. The gastronomic performance revolves around the feeling of nurture holistically and ceremonially. The artist has drawn inspiration from cult-like birth rituals in 19th century Latvia and Lithuania, where after giving birth in a sauna, the grandmother of the family would sacrifice a hen with a wooden ladle for the fate Goddess Laima. Women then would kneel and eat the chicken. Among other gifts to the Goddess Laima were linen towels, woven belts, and spindle whorls. The performance encapsulates the notion of rebirth and the fragility of life, which is in eternal transformation, in constant and rhythmic change between creation and destruction, birth and death. The Baltic Goddess, Laima, remained remarkably independent in the beliefs of many areas of Europe (they were not married to a God, for example). The Baltic Laima appears in mythological songs with Dievas, the Indo-European God of the light of the sky, to bless the fields and human life – not as his wife but as an equally powerful goddess.

Born and raised in Estonia, Monika Varšavskaja (1997 – ) moved to Paris in 2017 to study at the Decorative Arts School, as she pursued her taste and talent for the culinary art. Thanks to her studies in graphic design and her background in photography, she has an expert eye to stage food and create scenographies. Her work is graphic, sculptural and sophisticated, with a particular attention to shapes and colours. Her installations and buffets often go along with great brands’ events, arousing suprise.
After two residencies in Domaine de Boisbuchet and Château de la Haute Borde, she continues to work as a cooker and artist, drawing inspiration from her northern-Slavic roots.
She recently worked with brands as Amomento, Vautrait, Aesop, Hermès, Reform, Nike and Maison Alaïa.