You Never Dine Alone
You Never Dine Alone
2011
mixed with video
variable
This installation is part of The Dining Room exhibition, a joint show held at both The Epsten Gallery and The Paragraph Gallery in Kansas City. You Never Dine Alone explores the rituals and associations of dining by inviting the gallery guest to sit at the table and dine with eighteen people who, one by one, each eat and talk about a food related experience. This looped video allows a broad range of people to share a bit of conversation that is transformational for the viewer, who becomes the recipient diner. The cast of characters on the video range from a middle-aged man who describes a traumatic cafeteria experience to a woman who will not break-up with a boyfriend she no longer likes, because he is a good cook. As each speaks, the gallery guest becomes the person they are speaking to. All eighteen will feel familiar to most viewers, as they describe both interesting and banal content, while they eat.