On the Table

Food sets a rhythm, a time. It passes through different cycles — the germination of a seed, fermentation, preparations for a celebratory dish — before we consume it. Yet in recent decades, these cycles have been affected by consumerist immediacy, a logic that imposes an acceleration of the food system and, therefore, puts financial gain above the well-being of all forms of life. The result is a production blueprint that prioritises exploitation of the land and makes living beings subordinate to the technological development of the capitalist system, with scant consideration for the equal distribution of that which is produced or its environmental impact.

The point of departure of On the Table. Semiotics of Food is Martha Rosler’s video performance Semiotics of the Kitchen (1975), which is part of the Museo Reina Sofía Collection. In the work, the artist presents, in alphabetical order and as a semiotic exercise, a series of objects pertaining to this space in the home to denounce the role socially assigned to women in the domestic sphere.

Moreover, the exhibition turns attention towards an essential aspect of the kitchen but one which is not discernible in Rosler’s video performance: food. Following her narrative structure, the show presents a selection of visual and textural materials, for instance photographs, books, poems, postcards, cookbooks and objects, which are organised in an alphabetical glossary for the purposes of delving deeper into our complex relationship with food. The semiotic exercise used in the words that make up the glossary reveal the different ways in which food is linked to history, politics, art and culture.

On the Table. Semiotics of Food puts forward a critical reading of capitalist cycles to expose the tensions that revolve around food and to advocate a greater eco-social awareness of its production, distribution and consumption. Equally, it throws into relief its influence on human ties, its emotional dimension and its capacity to bring people together, to evoke memories and create stories around them.