‘The union between art and food’

Food and art – not an uncommon association to make. Be it Gustave Courbet’s Still Life with Apples, Pear, and Pomegranates, Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans or Chris Palmers’ Skoda advert where he recreated a car out of cake. Or even you. Taking a photo for Instagram of your plate of mega stacked pancakes topped by blueberries and whipped cream, and drowning in maple syrup – food has always played an integral part in the art world.

Cuisine+Colour is an art collaboration based in Bristol between visual artists Motley Collective and South West chefs. They describe their work as “the union between art and food that serves to pioneer an original way of relishing food – where colour is delicious and cuisine is to dye for”.

Their events, which are shrouded in a veil of enticing mystery, comprise of exciting intimate meals with a select number of dinner guests who are treated to a four course taste enchantment. At the end of the meal, the guests’ bibs (which have been subject to a vast array of colours), serve as a tapestry telling the tale of how they interacted with their food.

With supreme cuisine that is both beautiful to the eye and the tongue at the forefront of what this group does, it’s no surprise that Cuisine and Colour is rapidly gaining momentum in Bristol’s art scene. Having already successfully hosted three events at a coffee roastery and a science museum, the collective have their sites firmly set on the future, with plans to host at the likes of Bestival on Thursday, July 30 before returning to Bristol for their next event on August 21 at the Watershed.

Bristol24/7 spoke with Sabrina Shirazi, the creative producer at Cuisine+Colour prior to their recent Food Connections event hosted in the foyer of At-Bristol.

Hey Sabrina, could you tell me a bit about Cuisine and Colour?
“It came out of my visual arts company Motley Collective, which I founded with photographer Kim Clarke where we painted models white and applied colour to them in different ways to create a striking image. Cuisine+Colour is about two years old and we’ve had two events so far. It’s the coming together of visual art and cuisine which is inspired by colour. We initially worked with friends of ours who have an artisan culinary pop-up company called Da Boes. They’re based in the South West and to accompany their pop up events they had posters designed by artist friends of theirs. They asked Motley Collective to do a poster but instead, I encouraged the idea of a meal orientated around colour which is about breaking the etiquette of how to eat, in a very creative, artistic way. The basic premise of Cuisine+Colour is that there is a white table cloth and bibs that attach to it, so every person who sits around the table is wearing a bib. The food that we serve, and the way that we serve it means that the person eating is naturally going to effect the table cloth with colour. By the end of it you come away with a Jackson Pollock on the table cloth.”

I understand you’ve done a couple of these events now?
“For the first event in Bristol we had 12 diners and the second one we had 24 and now we are serving 40. Both those early events were supported by Extract Coffee Roasters, a brilliant company based in St Werburgh’s. It’s a lovely venue. You have the roastery with all the old machinery where the coffee is roasted. We enjoy working in different spaces. We’ve got four more events coming out of the last one. Through it we were contacted by BBC Food Connections and Camp Bestival.”

What food did you serve in the first two events?
“It’s a secret. You’ll have to guess from what’s on the bibs. No menu is the same.”

How much planning goes into one of these events?
It’s really heavy. There’s a lot of planning. Because we’ve only done two, I’m still learning as I go. The second one had more people, there were more logistics behind it all. With each and everyone one of them you learn more and grow your team. So it’s getting better every time.

Do you work with the chefs to create the menu or leave it up to them?
“I think it’s fair that they do what they’re good at. Then we meet and I’m allowed to have some input into how it goes.”

And who are the chefs?
“A lot of the chef come from Da Boes. However, we are developing the meal to incorporate other Bristol chefs and collaborate with restaurants. As I said, with each meal you grow your team.”

What is it that interests you about the combination of food and colour?
“For me, it was about challenging a new way of eating and having the visual aftermath as an icon that represented the general idea behind the event, in that you were impacting something that is usually pristine and it comes out of that process as a form that is really creative. I think also to me handing over the outcome to the participant is quite important. I think when you combine food and colour together there’s going to be an element of play around that, which is quite exciting.”

What inspired you to pursue Cuisine+Colour, what was the initial idea and how did it evolve?
“I thought creating a poster alone was just too simple. I think it was just through experimenting with an idea and seeing if it worked. The original idea was to create solid blocks of colours that were edible but then the chefs took it on to a whole new level of creating exquisite food that you just can’t help but want to devour. The outcome of that was to stain the table cloth. The idea behind it for me was not to publish images of what happens during the event. Instead you turn up, you experience it, it’s your own experience and then we show the aftermath through the bibs. No menu is the same. Cuisine+Colour became something that married excellent food with challenging etiquette.”

What can guests expect from your next event?
“People should just trust in that they will be eating delicious food and will be well taken care of by our staff team. If guests are open to eating in a new way, they will have fun. Then there’s the after party which is happening at the Watershed straight after. We’ll be showing the portraits fresh from the event as a live feed and projecting them onto the ceiling. There will be Cuisine+Colour cocktails served at the bar, free canopies and a DJ. And the after party will be open to the public.”

Do you plan to take Cuisine+Colour out of Bristol?
“I would like to take it internationally, ideally I would like to take it to New Zealand. The ultimate goal is to take it from country to country, and through each tablecloth represent the colours of the ingredients indigenous to that country as a flag that represents the colour of their cuisine. And turn that into an exhibition of flags.”

What other food ventures are you currently working on?
“I’m developing two other ideas at the moment. Ones called the Cacao Brewery which is allowing people to learn about the health benefits of plants through drinking hot chocolate. The basic premise is that there is a bar with optics, each one of those has a label which describes the health benefit of the ingredient, to a specific organ. So you go up to the bar where there is a mad doctor and you say to him ‘I feel really tired, I need a pick me up’. He’ll give you ginger, a naturally energising root. The ginger will be in the form of an infusion that you add to your hot chocolate.”

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I offered to help Sabrina out by joining the waiting staff for Cuisine+Colour’s At-Bristol event. We arrived a few hours before the doors opened to help with the set up. The museum’s lobby was transformed from an information kiosk and cafe to a beautifully minimalist dining experience overlooking Millennium Square.

The team arrived looking sharp. Our uniform consisted of black trousers and a white shirt, tied up with a black bow tie that managed to make even me, who had arrived with ripped jeans and a torn Adidas trainers – look ready to play the part of server.

While the attire was smart, there was a relaxed vibe to the event. Guests were encouraged to make a mess and have fun. As the night went on and drinks were polished off, food fights were erupting up and down the table.

At the end of the meal, At-Bristol was opened up for guests to check out the exhibit. This was one of my favourite elements of the night. While being centred on cuisine, the event also immersed itself in its surroundings, adding more to the experience.

For more information, visit www.cuisineandcolour.com