MACA is a multi-collaborator project created by Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos and Sean Naftel. 
Kunsthal Aarhus Exhibition 
 

Project Statement

Mastering the Art of Contemporary Art (MACA) brings together the universe of cooking and visual art in a shared metaphor that investigates the artistic process of creation - from the idea to its materialization and its public exhibition. Programs like The French Chef and Jamie at Home have often transformed our relationship with food thru their direct didactic function but also thru their informal invitation for personal experimentation. Within a TV-kitchen setting, an instructional website and an art salon, the exhibition challenges collective productions and situations. MACA invites the audience into a similar mental and physical journey thru the artistic creation process aiming at demystifying the act of creation, unleashing personal creativity and opening a wider conversation on empowerment, authorship, and ownership.
 
The project consists of three open-spaces: a culinary TV set, a tutorials website, and a dining room. When broken down, each of the spaces has a very basic goal: learn, make and reflect.


STEP 1: LEARN
During the exhibition, a part of the space is transformed into a smaller version of a commercial cooking TV-set. Twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday), a new artist comes to share with visitors the “How-to” recreate one of his/her existing artworks, inviting anyone to re-appropriate the artwork and make it their own at home.
 
Participating artists:
Anders Visti, Charlotte Thrane, Dan Stockholm, Ditte Lyngkær Pedersen, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang, Jesper Carlsen, Jette Gejl, Johanne Skovbo Lasgaard, Julie Stavad, Julie Bitsch, Kim Grønborg, Lise Skou, Louise Sparre, Marianne Jørgensen, Nanna Gro Henningsen og Søren Hüttel.
 
STEP 2: MAKE
The “art-recipe” performances are live-streamed and a final edited video is made available online on www.m-a-c-a.tv. The website gives online viewers the means to breakdown both the conceptual intent and the materiality of the artist’s process and empowers them to get inspired and become the architects of their own creative pursuits at home.
 
STEP 3: REFLECT
Everyone is invited to bring the artwork they created back to Kunsthal Aarhus to be displayed, along with the artworks presented by the invited artist. The gallery functions as a conversational platform where the audience can share their personal views on the art. Starting empty, the space progressively fills throughout the weeks as new pieces are produced by visitors that come to contribute to the creative conversation.


Mastering the Art of Contemporary Art is an open invitation for everyone to learn, create, reflect, redistribute, re-consume existing artworks and ideas, generate new meanings and continue a global conversation. The project itself, that premiered in Kunsthal Aarhus in March 2016, is a never-ending work in progress, an open book with no last page. 

KUNSTHAL AARHUS EXHIBITION WEBSITE 
 
 

MACA