Dinner Table Project: The Colour Series
Foote originally started this project in 2007 but was not until 2009 when it finely came to fruition, the first of 8 installation/events of the Dinner Table Project: The Colour Series finally took form, the first held at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces.
The Dinner Table Project: The Colour Series are relational artworks where Foote has been creating one-night installation/ events, that see him create elaborate dinner parties for around 100 guests.
These events see Foote create and conceiving everything from the invites, table, flatware, food and the styling of the wait staff (their hair & makeup, outfits, choreography) through to the dress code, every little detail!
Each dinner party focuses on a different colour theme for the dishes served, Foote will be working his way through the entire colour spectrum, he intentionally stripped the food of any visual taste signifiers, putting the focus onto the taste and texture of the food which heightens the taste experience.
For the first event held at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces Foote presented dishes only white in appearance; Foote also saturate the guests environment by creating layers of visual literacy for the guests to read and engage with.
As the guests entered the space they where presented with a complete black room with a massive 30 meter table, running down either side of the table where sleek back rounded stools lined with gold mirror, the table itself was covered with black flatware, black candles black napkins.
The wait staff made up of 16 models were 1920’s inspired, the girls had hair blow waved to one side and smoky eyes with a gold shimmer, and the guys had slicked down hair with a strong part to one side, they all wore white aprons and ties with black shirts and pants, each dish was served in a choreographed manner.
“My interest in event based artwork has emerged, developed and is situated in a climate where overwhelming influxes and exchanges of information are taking place unabated day and night around the world. Constantly changing multi-media streams pervade our everyday lives.
Nowadays people are bombarded with so much information that is constantly changing and developing that we have created a society that are always hungry for the new next big thing, they want tomorrows popular culture today which has given growth to what I call ‘trend culture’.
Trend culture is all about the layering of information in our information driven society, how we create and process large amounts of information on a daily level unlike ever before, whilst comprehending information overlaid by multiple systems and contextual reading. This multi layering of information is so extensive that we are not talking about a simple linear system of laying, it is more of an x y z axis of information that can travel not only back and forth but all so up and down without any relationship to each other, these notions are the foundations of my artwork.
(Taken from one of my thesis titled ‘The emergence of trend culture’)”
The dinner parties range in styles from classic culinary to molecular gastronomy styles
Each dinner party will not only have different food but a different location. Foote is currently working on taking this event around the world.
