«SUPERMARKETTE is a trip inside an artistic supermarket made of new non-existent authentic products. Each of us is an artist in our own life. And each of us has a choice.» With this premise opens Maurizio Tentella‘s exhibition in collaboration with artist Alessandro Pizzuti curated by Mariano Franzetti that will open June 13 at Galleria Lampo in Milan. A project conceived by Tentella, culinary critic and founder of the Spacedelicious agency, with the intention of reflecting – in a decidedly provocative way – on our diet. An exhibition that combines food, images and words «without sugar, without preservatives, without anything except the possibility to choose.» But let’s find out more about what it is and what the works on display will be.
Through a reworking of the images and advertising messages associated with consumer products in supermarkets, SUPERMARKETTE explores all the forms in which these products appear until they reach consumers’ tables. The exhibition considers details such as the tricolor logo typical of neighborhood convenience stores and the use of words that combine Latin prefixes with diminutives of brands, stamps and certifications. Nothing escapes the critical eye of Maurizio Tentella, who carefully analyzes the most iconic ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine. Then it is artist Alessandro Pizzuti who conceives provocative artworks that make us reflect on the authenticity of what we ingest every day. From eggs to mortadella, not forgetting fruits and vegetables. Let’s better understand what this is all about and preview some of the works on display.
Free-range eggs
If we talk about Mediterranean food, we cannot fail to mention eggs, the basic ingredient in many recipes. Equally, if we talk about intensive livestock farming and industrial food production, talking about eggs is almost automatic. There is much debate about the various wording on egg packages – “free-range,” “free-range” – and also about the numbers above the eggs, which often correspond to the way the hens are raised. In this vein, Tentella and Pizzuti reflect on the absence of the word “hen”-no one mentions the name of the originator of this product. In contrast, they emphasize the size of the eggs, large, medium, small, “big enough to incubate an embryo, small enough to be laid, but not so spherical as to roll away like billiard balls,” reads the exhibition text. From this reflection comes the work in which billiard balls replace eggs and, outside the package, a white egg, the only authentic one.
Fruit at the end of the meal: tomato and banana
It is difficult to accept that the tomato is a fruit, and even more so that it is an import from Latin America. For many, this ubiquitous ingredient in Italian cuisine, a symbol of the Mediterranean diet, is so ingrained in our DNA that, in the absence of tomato sauce, we resort to transfusions of ITALIAN BLOOD. This is the title of the installation that depicts a room where donors and recipients of blood or sauce alternate, in a tribute to the love of the tomato and its ambiguity.
In short, there are many works on display at SUPERMARKETTE that offer a sharp and ironic reflection on our relationship with food and the cultural symbols that surround it, combining history, art and social criticism in a unique and provocative experience. You have until June 30 to visit the exhibition and discover them all.
Courtesy Maurizio Tentella, Alessandro Pizzuti, Galleria Lampo
