The exhibition Gulp takes as its starting point the various events that lead to, or can result in, the act of swallowing. Be it a mouthful, a sip or a gag reflex.

Clara Chavan and Katia Leonelli have invited Zahrasadat Hakim, Phoebe-Lin Elnan, RM, Clara Roumégoux and Jacopo Valentini to interpret this gulp and its implications. Their proposals bring the audience from the Via Emilia to the Pacha Ibiza Club, after a walk around strangely displayed elements from the domestic and professional culinary worlds and the remains of a cake-adjacent performance. Each artist in their own way seized on this onomatopoeia to develop a critique of the present time.

Writers Cassiane Pfund and Larissa Tiki Mbassi have been invited to come up with textual works that unfold in the pages of the publication Buffet Maisonné. Along with the questions of the artists exhibited into the space of La Rada, they develop a sensitive discourse, written with two or four hands, exploring the spectrum between theory and poetry.

Illustrations by Juliette Lépineau and Jessy Razafimandimby accompany these reflections and establish a link not only with the works on display, but also with the Locarno region. Having also taken on the artistic direction of Buffet Maisonné, they have produced a RISO-printed edition of 120 copies, which will hopefully keep many mouths watering long after December 17, 2023. 

Kitchen, meal, grub, schluck, yum yum, gastronomy, stamm — both the contents of plates and glasses and all that surrounds them — are media for exchange, pretexts for creating and maintaining relationships, for fighting against anomie. Understanding and observing the phenomenology of a mouthful may provide us with the answers we need to take care of each other.

Text and curation by Clara Chavan and Katia Leonelli
Photo Credits: Riccardo Giancola
Image Courtesy: the artists and La Rada

Works

Phoebe-Lin Elnan, Help yourself, 2023, Performance (13 min.) and Installation Sound Design by Louis Dambrain», at La Rada, Locarno, 2023.

Zahrasadat Hakim, I yearn to my mother’s bread 
«أحن إلى خبز أمي», embroidered cloths, carved wood, 50 x 45 cm each, 2023, at La Rada, Locarno, 2023.

Zahrasadat Hakim, Les miroirs ne me contiennent pas, 2023, Embroidered cloth, mirror, 200 x 225 cm, at La Rada, Locarno, 2023.

Clara Roumégoux, What the fire sees, 2023, Wood, metal, heating lamp, 180 x 40 x 75 cm, at La Rada, Locarno, 2023.

Clara Roumégoux, Red beads, 2023, Beads (acrylic, metal), Variable dimensions at La Rada, Locarno, 2023.

Jacopo Valentini, From the series Paesaggi da Tavola (Trattoria Due Platani – Trattoria Entrà – Osteria di Medicina – Da Lucio Trattoria), 2023, Inkjet print, wood and cotton gloves, 20 x 220 cm» at La Rada, Locarno, 2023

RM, Cherries, 2020 UV-printed PVC, textile, rope and pompons 450 x 950 x 400 cm, [n° inv 2022-080] Collection du Fonds d’art contemporain de la Ville de Genève» at La Rada, Locarno, 2023 

Publication Buffet Maisonné by Cassiane Pfund, Larissa Tiki Mbassi, Juliette Lépineau and Jessy Razafimandimby, RISO-printed edition of 120 copies, 2023 at La Rada, Locarno, 2023.