Wim T. Schippers
Peanutbutter floor
Year: 1962
Installation of peanutbutter
Collection Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Many contemporary artists have another way of looking at foodculture than their predecessors. Western foodculture has been globalized, most products are bought in supermarkets with overflowing shelves where the difference between local and exotic products has dissapeared. No hymns of praise about abundance, no impressing still lifes, but works of art that criticising mass consumption and alienation.
These works of art of international working artists are confronting and not pleasing, except the
Peanutbutter floor
by Wim T. Schippers.
Sobriety that dominated Dutch cuisine for a long time, has changed into a new abundancy and diversity of food. Thanks to immigration (a.o) ingredients that had dissapeared after the Golden Age are available again. The Morroccan
b'stilla
is similar to the festive turkeypie painted by Pieter Claesz (Room 4). Offal became unpopular, goat- and sheepmeat dissapeared from the Dutch menu. But thanks to the Chinese, pig's heads and trotters are eaten again, Morroccans brought sheep and goatmeat and thanks to the Surinamese and Africans we can buy dried and salted fish again. Just to mention a few examples. Fasting has made a come back as well, by christian Eritreans and muslims, by individuals as a counterpart to consumentism and by followers of dietguru's propagating all kinds of self-discipline.
