TOOLS – Food & Art Experience
TOOLS – Art & Food Experience
‘The first tools evolved to collect food’.
A collaborative experience created for special guests to celebrate artist-blacksmith Conrad Hicks solo exhibition, ‘Implement’ showing at one of South Africa’s foremost galleries, Southern Guild, May-July 2019, in association with BMW South Africa.
The experience begins with a cocktail by Hope using their South African Agave spirit in the Foyer of The Bijou.
The guests then take a secret passage to my studio where ‘Petrichor’, a 15 minute, immersive, sensorial experience using film, sound, scent and fire, about the smell of rain is performed (see more on this here…).
This was followed by a dinner of discovery inside Conrad Hicks’ cathedral-like workshop, which centres around the theme of how the first tools evolved to collect food.
The meal was created with layers of meaning, using ingredients and implements for eating that have history and significance from Conrad and Caro’s discoveries, both individually and together.
The guests were given a hand forged knife made by Conrad as a keep-sake and this was their only ‘conventional’ tool to eat with during the meal.
The food was paired with pre-release, small-batch wines from Krone and Twee Jonge Gezellen, as well as a limited release from Reyneke, one of South Africa’s most distinctive biodynamic farms.
Music for the evening was composed by Italian flautist Alessandro Gigli layered with sounds from the machines and tools in Conrad’s studio forge.
He also wrote the music for ‘Petrichor’.
All photographs by Adel Ferreira.
The evening was held at The Bijou, home to Conrad’s studio-forge and my atelier.
Chandelier was made with elements found by us and moves down to the floor at the end of the meal for a special surprise.
Hand forged knives for each guest.
Wild mushrooms, cooked with wild fynbos rosemary on the forge fire on one of Conrad’s copper sculptures.
‘Archeulean Tools’ – Roasted whipped bone marrow on toast with confit garlic and pea shoots served on bone installation on a b burnt door from one of The Bijou fires (in her history, she had two fires tear through the building).
Acacia thorn ‘fork’. Starter called ‘100 000 Years’ and is about an age in homo sapiens evolution where seafood played a large role in boosting creative brain function. It is Oyster, mussel, ceviche and Alikreukel seafood bisque all with foraged/home-grown ingredients.
Eating the main course with knife and ‘fork’. Eating with hands if you like! The main course is called ’10 000 Years’ and is about when we began to start herding. It was ‘Lamb on the bone, ribs on a spike, madumbi and roots’ paired with Twee Jonge Gezellen Grenache.
Lamb ribs cooked in the ‘old way’ by Don and the team at Vagabond.
Beautiful wines on the evening – here, the Twee Jonge Gezellen Grenache.
I finish ‘painting’ with meringue on a copper sculpture.
Firing meringue with Conrads forge blowtorch for one of the surprises at the end of the meal.
‘Flowers and Bees’ – Rose Pelargonium and pulled honeycomb.
Table design details. I designed the tablescape, Conrad made the copper textures and sculptures.
Table design details – steel, copper, crystal, fire, bones.