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Nonetheless, aside from the fact that this was all facilitated by the New Museum as a part of their recent Ideas City festival, it wasn't clear that what we were doing was particularly artistic until you examined the stack of papers on the tables. Was it a survey? A manifesto? The questions were written in a jaunty, lyrical way, like a prose poem. "What do you call the space between public and private? Is private-education power? Who squats today? Does fashion matter? How much is Central Park worth? Is it still worth that after you sell it?" The unsharpened pencils sat atop the papers—but the organizers weren't pushing people to take the "survey." Nothing was particularly pushed. It was just about the possibility of sharing food, and what such an activity could lead to.The menu had been quite intentionally curated, explained 26-year-old Nuriye Tohermes, an art student from Germany who co-organized the installation. Opening the melon is a conversation starter. The sunflower seeds take time to eat, so you have to sit. The pomegranate is like a combination of those two. And the bread—a large rustic roll—naturally implied sharing. She said they had gotten the food from "the Chinese markets."'Public space has been privatized, and we need to redefine the public,' Potrč said.
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"It's a question of how you place yourself in the world," said Tohermes. "In the Western world, you start with yourself."Potrč and Tohermes emphasized the connection between personal life and public space, as the core idea behind The Invisible Lunch. Equally stressed was Potrč's desire to pass on a legacy of radical thinking to her students. Potrč spoke of her motivation for creating projects investigating public space, mentioning the neoliberal paradigm that emerged over time between 1968 and 2008, and the possibilities created by the global financial crisis that began that year.When people learned I was a journalist, they flipped roles and started interviewing me. Where did I live, and was it affordable? How did I make it living as a writer in New York City? Wouldn't I benefit from marketing myself better? Had I read this book, by so-and-so, about how to convince clients of your worth? But writing isn't a commodity, I responded, conscious that I was defending myself to the philosophers and radicals of 1968—as if assuring them, This society of the spectacle isn't total, even in 2015.On Munchies: How to Make a Vegan Watermelon Cake with Cata.Pirata
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