October 25, 2008

"Exquisite Corpse Dinner "
San Diego Visual Art Network (SDVAN) - Eat your Art Out

The very special Dada/Exquisite Corpse dinner took place Saturday,
October 25, at Dave Ghilarducci's, in the country in Escondido.

We are getting ready, preparing the table with all the decoration made by Christine, Kevin’s wife: the long hand painted tablecloth, the pieces of bread wrapped in paper and labeled as soaps, the knitted sleeves for the bottles of wine. I made 12 sets of 6 small cards, one for each course of the meal. Laying on the table are sets of serving spoons and forks with baby dolls' arms cast in aluminum by Dave.


Le Verbe Etre (Dada Dinner) #1. 2008, 18"x18", mixed media on canvas


Curtain

Curtain

We put on the wall three paintings I made for the occasion: Andre Breton, Mona Lisa and a "Magritte Man". We hang the curtains, stenciled with silver spray paint with kitchen tools. The kitchen is super busy, Dave and Diane cooking everything at the same time and getting ready to serve 12 people...

Diane, Christine and I put our beautifully handcrafted hats on, made by the fairy Christine. Diane's is made of a stack of white coffee filters decorated like a table, Christine is a piece montée, and mine is a book, in homage to Andre Breton. Christine wears a black dress and a tie, her dress has one black leg and she wears a flat ballerina shoe with the bare leg, a tennis shoe on the pant's side. Kyle wears his very chic "Coppola" suit with a Dada necklace (a doll's leg and a trooper toy's leg attached together), also made by Christine. Kevin arrives with our "Dadarazzi", Richard Gleaves, who will document the night by videotaping. Alex, Dave's son, is getting ready for his role: "Silent Alex" - our Bunuelian servant. We light the candles on top of empty bottles of wine. At 8:00 Patricia and Darwin Frischer and Irene De Watteville - our first guests - arrive, greeted at the door by "The Trooper", Kevin Freitas, wearing an army helmet topped with a small nest containing tiny white eggs. He wears his jacket backwards, and his long black socks contrast nicely with his light colored boxer shorts. He looks very serious and gives a military salute to the arriving guests. Then, as the guests make their entrance in the room, Alex proposes silently to take care of their purses and jackets, putting them promptly in a black trash bag and disappearing for the room. Christine, Diane and I are lining up, like at a funeral and, while they approach us and say "good evening", each of us say "Condolences"... Ambiance.

The Dadarazzi is already in action, filming around us. Then we all chat and drink some wine for a while, waiting for our other guests, Patty Smith, her husband Dave and Judy Spuris. Then we seat (everybody has an assigned seat). Kyle, our Mister Loyal, explains the way the dinner works, specially the use of the set of six cards each person have: this is a six course meal and each card correspond to a course... Then Kyle collects one card per person, in order, and takes them to the kitchen. From there, the scenario of the dinner we thought about and rehearsed, unfolds almost perfectly. Kevin is in the kitchen, we understand he is upset, looking for the chicken he needs for the dinner... He calls me, I excuse myself and go to the kitchen. We have an argument in French, louder and louder. Finally, I go back to the table (I did not find any solution for Kevin's problem). Dave goes the the kitchen and then gets out of the house. When he comes back, he has a real and alive beautiful chicken in his arms and takes it to the kitchen, where we hear a loud "Tchack!". One minute later, we are served and Kyle - who got some chicken - says "This chicken looks very fresh!". The guests, although they know they are having a Dada dinner, hesitate between laughing and worrying about what is exactly going on. Silent Alex often enters the house with an odd object like a huge saddle and then disappears...

Bolt and chocolate

We are 12 people sitting at the table, and we are served 6 different courses. Someone gets dessert, someone gets the chicken or the mashed potatoes, or the vegetable, or.... a big bolt covered with chocolate, or a plate covered with feathers...


Le Verbe Etre (Dada Dinner) #2. 2008, 18"x18", mixed media on canvas

I get up and propose to read a poem by Andre Breton. I have my book with me. I start reading "Le Verbe Etre". Silent Alex enters the room with a large bucket, sees me, hesitates and comes next to me. Then, as I am still reading, he takes off my shoes, takes my arm and invites me to step in the bucket. He steps on a stool, and with a watering can, starts watering me, on top of my head. I am still reading. He empties the watering can (He promised the water would be warm but it is not!), goes back down, invites me silently to step out of the bucket. I did not look at him once. I am still reading. I walk to the garage door, grab my shoes and disappears. I change my clothes, attach my wet hair and reappear a few minutes later wearing on my face a severe looking African mask. I go to the table where my dessert is served. But I cannot eat with my mask on. Meanwhile, Dave on my right and Kyle on my left, are eating my pear. Then, I take the mask off, but Silent Alex removes my plate.



Dave brings to the table a large serving plate with a hot dog on it. Then, with an electric knife, he starts slicing the hot dog very finely. After that each guests is served a slice. Some eat it, some don't. We are served other courses, some guests play with the bolts and chocolate, some with the feathers. Suddenly Alex appears at the door carrying a girl on his shoulder, like a potato bag, and disappears in the corridor. It is a complete surprise for all of us! We told Alex he could come in the house with all sorts of odd objects, cross the room and then disappear, an apparently his girl friend arrived in the middle of the dinner!



An argument grows between Mr Loyal and the Trooper: what is best (more difficult, more interesting): Check or Checkers? Alex brings immediately 6 sets of Check/Checkers. The 12 guests can play, they just have to decide who wants to play chess and who wants to play checkers... on the same board. Interesting moment! After a few minutes of playing this odd play, it becomes crazy and people start playing with added objects like corks and glasses of wine and start stealing pieces from other boards, etc... Then Alex, without warning grabs all the boards and the pieces, puts them in a bag and leaves. Time for another course. Soon Mr Loyal explains that we are going to do an exquisite corpse together. He explains the rule of the folded paper (nobody knows what the previous persons wrote on it), and tells the type of words we will need. We all start writing one word and then we give the paper to the person on our right and so on around the table. In the end we get 12 exquisite corpses. The Trooper and Mr Loyal read them and we vote for the best two ones: one for our "team", one for our guests.
And here what the guests vote for: "The fluffy body swiftly copulated the bright moon".
And here what our "team" votes for: "The fabulous fingers abruptly cracked the wicked sex toy".

We clean the table. The Trooper folds ceremoniously the long tablecloth like a flag and gives it to Patricia Frischer. The guests discover that underneath the tablecloth, the table was marked as if someone died there and the police chalked outlines.



Then Dave, The Trooper and I write one word of each exquisite corpse on a t-shirt previously silk screened in black by Dave: "Fuck Dada, Let's Dance" on the front and "Eat your Art Out 2008" on the back.

The t-shirts are gifts for our guests, each of them also receive a serving spoon or fork with the baby arm handle.
It is past midnight when our guests leave, hopefully happy - and transformed by the experience!

I love the project, I enjoyed the collaborative work. I hope there will be some development in the future!


Le Verbe Etre (Dada Dinner) #3. 2008, 18"x18", mixed media on canvas

SDVAN/Eat Your Art Out
The Dada Team:
Kevin Freitas
Dave Ghilarducci
Diane Hook
Christine
Kyle Forbes
Michele Guieu
Thanks to Alex Ghilarducci as "Silent Alex"
and to our Dadarazzi: Richard Gleaves