ABOUT GNAM
With "GNAM – Gastronomia nell’arte moderna" (Gastronomy in Modern Art) project, Solares Foundation
of the Arts and its consortium, Platform 21 for The Netherlands and ADC.EP (Association pour le Développement
de la Création, Etudes et Projets) for France, aim to promote inter-cultural dialogue through the trans-national
circulation of art works and cultural products. The thread of these topics is the concept of "Food"
and its varied meanings. Which traditions or customs reveal cultural similarities and differences better than
eating customs? What, more than food, can be considered as a common denominator unifying all European citizens,
who have such a complex, deep and diverse relationship with the whole nutrition experience? Nutritional habits
are essential for describing and expressing a culture.
One of the specific objectives of this project is to value and highlight the artistic food culture from a
European perspective. With all of us so involved and touched by this subject, food serves as one of the main
links between artists, cultural operators and public at large.
Thanks to a varied and manifold series of events, the festival provides a common ground for questioning the
present and possible future of the dual concept of food and culture. It does so by means of various artistic
languages and disciplines, from plastic and visual arts to design, photography, music and theatre.
During the GNAM events staged in Amsterdam (NL), Parma (IT), Cahors (FR), a number of sites is prepared to host
artistic events. Their aim will be to ensure that art is harnessed as a collective good, as a means of
increasing individual and common knowledge and leading the way towards cultural integration through the topic
of food and nutrition in the age of cultural globalisation.
From a philosophical point of view, the series of events will focus on some subjects for in-depth
considerations, i.e. our relationship with food, in an attempt to demonstrate how our way of eating is
closely related to our way of dealing with the external world; eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia,
which are problems that have leapt alarmingly to the public’s attention; and the right to food for all.
The three editions of the GNAM festival take place in different moments of the year; the first city to host
the event is Amsterdam (February/March 2008), Parma the second (April/May 2008) and Cahors the third
(December 2008).
Starting out from the assumption that by observing our personal relationship with the nutrition experience
we can understand much about ourselves, the GNAM project intends to create a meeting environment for hosting
an exchange between different, varied cultures which nonetheless share common roots.
 |
|
|
