The Long Lunch 2012

The Long Lunch The Art of Collaborative Practice
Monday 30th January 2012

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”
Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, My Own Story

The Old School Room has been a venue for learning, meeting and celebration since its establishment in 1850 and as part of ‘Show & Tell’ artists Simon Lee Dicker & Rebecca Strain invited a group of artists and creative practitioners to share their work, ideas and approaches to collaborative practice, make new critical friends, see the exhibition and eat some good food.

The group consisted of  Jon England, Hazel Evans, Jonathan Shelper, Tim Martin, Sue Palmer (remotely) representatives from ‘Bristol Diving School’ (Tom Prater, Savannah Theis, Amy Walsh) Simon Lee Dicker, Rebecca Strain and Chantelle Henocq. In the spirit of collaboration the contents of the lunch was determined by the contributions of the eaters. Just like the story of Stone Soup*, OSR Projects provide the pot and the water but what was eaten was  flavoured by what the participants brought to the table.

*Stone Soup
Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to the neck of the stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making “stone soup”, which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with carrots to help them out, so it gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup that has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.

follow the link to Hazel Evans ‘A Toast to Nourishment’_week 5

Photo montage by Chantelle Henocq – Long Lunch