Banquet for America

Exhibition dates: February 3 – 12, open every day from 10am – 10pm

Opening Reception: Friday, February 3rd, 7-11pm
Special Flux Thursday: Thursday, February 9th, 8-11:30pm
Cabaret Extravaganza: Saturday, February 11, 7-10pm
Closing Banquet: Sunday, February 12, 6-9pm

Flux Factory is pleased to announce Banquet for America, an experimental utopian village centered around a banquet table. Our artist-built town-within-a-gallery will be complete with a theater, specialized shops, and more; come experience a village equipped with bakers, jewelers, barbers, puppeteers, and smørrebrød-makers! Artists will inhabit the space for the duration of the show, eating and living with each other in structures made from reclaimed materials. We have a dynamic group of performance and conceptual artists, and the experience will shift and grow as the show goes on.

The preparation of food and ritual of communal eating has been enormously formative in shaping American culture. Banquet for America will explore food as a way of gaining a deeper awareness of oneself within a larger community, beyond sustenance. In addition, the exhibition is a response to the decline of the traditional town structure in the face of box stores, malls, and chain restaurants. These structures attempt to replace the commercial enterprises of the traditional downtown district, and in doing so, subvert the viability of family-owned businesses. Such changes are more visible in small towns, where transformation is more tangible, but are of vital importance to the larger economy and the fabric of the nation.

Banquet for America will include four special event nights: an opening reception with Jean Barberis & Mark Krawczuk on February 3rd; Flux Thursday on February 9th; a cabaret and puppet show night on February 11th; and, to close, A Bacchanalian Banquet with Giustina Surbone on February 12th.

While the opening, Flux Thursday, and cabaret night will all be open to public, we are taking reservations for the closing event. Click here for more information.

On February 11th, the Invisible Kitchen will present The Master of Prayer, a puppet allegory, followed by glittering musical performances by Homo Hasidus, Angela Washko, Veronica Dougherty, Kagero, and the Ruffian Arms..

Participating artists: Adam Ende; Adrian Owen, Ian Montgomery, & Jason Eppink; Alison Ward; Andy Ralph; Angela Washko; Georgia Muenster; Giustina Surbone; Hector Canonge; Jean Barberis & Mark Krawczuk; Jesper Aabille; Kerry Cox; LuLu LoLo; Stephanie Avery; and Veronica Dougherty. Curated by Alison Ward and Georgia Muenster. Special thanks to Chess Venis, Erich Rodriguez, and Shane Heinemeier!

For press or general inquiries, please contact Georgia@fluxfactory.org.

WAGMAG, the Brooklyn art guide, has generously donated Pernod Absinthe to the Banquet for America’s opening and closing receptions. Download WAGMAG’s new gallery guide mobile app, The Art & Absinthe Guide to Brooklyn, here.

Banquet for America is supported, in part, by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Materials for the Arts; and by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.