Kitchen Project: Cookery classes that came to your homes…

"Excellent energy and fun"

"Art and food: no better combination"

Participants' comments

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Over the course of 6 days between February and March 2012 two artists from Beijing, Rania Ho and Wang Wei, collaborated with Quarantine and taught cookery classes in people’s homes across Greater Manchester.

They explored questions such as ‘What does it mean to make and share a meal?’ and ‘What is actually being traded in “cultural exchanges”?’ Rania and Wang Wei covered various topics from basic knife techniques, to step-by-step instructions on a selection of tasty dishes. Working out of domestic kitchens they brought all the necessary materials and tools,and ran hands-on sessions.

Kitchen Project came out of a creative conversation with between Quarantine and Rania Ho and Wang Wei, which began in 2006. Over the last few years they have made bread, met musicians, pawn brokers and refugees. This project opened their ongoing conversation to the general public where the artists acted as “hosts” in the transmission of some simple cultural and culinary knowledge. Rania and Wang Wei are not professionally trained chefs - they are visual artists who enjoy cooking. All their knowledge was gained through learning from others.

Rania and Wang Wei are installation artists who experiment in various mediums - Rania with transforming common household products and Wang creating pseudo-architectural forms. They are also two of the co-founders of Arrow Factory, one of Beijing’s most intriguing storefront art spaces.

Kitchen Project was the first time that all of these parties worked together. Kitchen Project plays with ideas about tourism, authenticity and food to delve into an exploration of the term “cultural exchange”.

Kitchen Project is a collaboration between Salford-based company Quarantine and Beijing-based artists Rania Ho and Wang Wei and is commissioned by Chinese Arts Centre.