From Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s opulent fruit and vegetable portraits to Flemish still life painting of the 16th and 17th centuries and Daniel Spoerri’s Eat Art, food has long been a recurring motif in art history. Meanwhile, culinary practice has developed its own artistic dimensions, from sculptural plating and molecular gastronomy to entire philosophies of cooking. Initiated by Beate Slominski, founder of the Food Biennale, a multifaceted event at n.b.k. explored the intersections of art and cuisine. Participants offered insights from gastronomy and cultural studies to illuminate the past and present of cooking as an art form.

With works by Dargelos Kersten, Thomas Scheibitz, and Karin Sander

Participants

Hartmut Böhme (*1944 in Beeskow/Spree) was Professor of Cultural Theory and the History of Mentalities at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and held visiting posts at universities in the USA and Japan. His research focuses on cultural history since antiquity, the history of nature and technology at the intersection of philosophy, art, and literature, and the theory and history of fetishism. His publications include In aller Munde. Das Orale in Kunst und Kultur (2020, edited by Uta Ruhkamp, in collaboration with Beate Slominski), Transformation: Ein Konzept zur Erforschung kulturellen Wandels (2011), Fetischismus und Kultur. Eine andere Theorie der Moderne (2006), and Feuer Wasser Erde Luft. Kulturgeschichte der Naturwahrnehmung in den Elementen (1996, with Gernot Böhme).

Christopher Dell (*1965 in Darmstadt) is a musician, composer, and theorist. A trained vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer, he taught at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt from 1992 to 2000. Dell has received numerous honors, including the Hessischer Jazzpreis (2022), the Deutscher Jazzpreis for special instruments (2021), the Golden Jazz Award (2015), and the Darmstädter Musikpreis (2005). In 2012, he earned a doctorate in organizational psychology from the Universität Duisburg-Essen and has held various guest professorships, including at the Technische Universität München and Universität der Künste Berlin.

Henrike Höhn (*1972 in Berlin) is a holistic health consultant, breathing therapist, nutrition coach, and founder and owner of GENUSSWANDEL, a holistic health consultancy in Berlin and Potsdam. In her practice, Höhn integrates themes such as health, organic food, and the enjoyment of eating with artistic interventions and lectures on the ethics of food consumption.

Dargelos Kersten (*1988) is an artist living and working in Berlin. Together with Gernot Seeliger and Anton Peitersen, he co-founded and co-directs the collaborative art project Pegasus Products.

Marco Müller (*1970 in Potsdam) is the Executive Chef at Rutz – Berlin’s first and only restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars – and, since 2020, also at Rutz Zollhaus (both owned by Anja and Carsten Schmidt). Prior to these roles, Müller was head chef at Hotel Schloss Hubertushöhe in Storkow and the Grand Hotel Esplanade in Berlin, and sous chef at Schlosshotel Bühlerhöhe in Baden-Baden and Altes Zollhaus in Berlin. He is a jury member on several committees promoting up-and-coming chefs and, since late 2024, has been a judge on the ZDF cooking competition show Die Küchenschlacht.

Karin Sander (*1957 in Bensberg) is an internationally renowned German conceptual artist. She has received several awards, and her works are included in numerous collections worldwide, including the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. From 2007 to 2023, Sander served as Professor of Architecture and Art at ETH Zurich, and since November 2021, she has been Director of the Visual Arts Section at the Akademie der Künste Berlin. In 2023, together with Philip Ursprung, she represented Switzerland at the Architecture Biennale in Venice.

Thomas Scheibitz (*1968 in Radeberg near Dresden) is a widely noted figure in German painting and sculpture. Since the early 1990s, he has developed conceptual paintings and sculptures that draw upon art historical references. His practice also encompasses the publication of artist books, most recently Rhizome – Tunnelmaterial (with Martin Gostner, 2024). Together with Tino Sehgal, Scheibitz represented Germany at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).