Dining Tables and Performance

MMU Special Collections

In this presentation Augusto Corrieri draws on his practice as a magician and performance artist, drawing multiple connections between the fields of magic, the history of performance art, and the dining table. 
Books from the Home Studies Collection, such as 'Cups and their Custom', or 'The Art of Entertaining', provide useful red herrings for investigating convergences between conjuring and the theme of ‘setting the table’. As 'The Art of Entertaining' (1892) suggests, "the better part of our dinner is that which we do not eat, but only think about." In a talk likely to be accompanied by small performance ‘acts’, Corrieri will be considering questions of visible and invisible labour; questions of entertainment, dexterity and ‘perfection’; as well as ideas of enjoyment, care and repair. For setting the table, just as settling in one’s theatre seat, is a way to prepare for pleasure, "The pleasure to repair the continual losses we incur by the action of life." (taken from 'The Handbook of Dining', 1865)
 The Home Studies Collection is a collection of books on the subject of domestic economics that were originally held at the Manchester School of Domestic Economy. The collection contains more than 700 books on a broad range of topics including food production, home economics and family living, food preservation, cooking, food technology and regional cookery. It includes works by Alexis Soyer, Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin, Elizabeth Raffald, Eliza Acton and Mrs Beeton. 
This event has been organized by <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://feastjournal.co.uk/about/" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">FEAST</A> and funded by Arts Council England.  
Image: 'In place of a show' performance lecture by Augusto Corrieri, Saddler's Wells 2013. Photograph by Camilla Greenwell.

Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections

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Dining Tables and Performance

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