Blazo Kovacevic
Continental Break(fast) Nutrition Facts
Gallery Chaos, September 2004
Belgrade, Serbia
Gallery Karver, September 2006
Podgorica, Montenegro
ATHICA (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art), Ingest, January - March 2008
Athens, Georgia, USA
Curated By Beth Sale Jacquet with Jacob Cawthon, Assistant Curator
When I started thinking about “Continental Breakfast” the very first thing that came to my mind was the food, of course. Next thing was, naturally, breakfast. Then what would be the perfect breakfast? Somebody would probably agree that the perfect breakfast would be healthy meal with all the right (healthy) ingredients, necessary to carry us through the day. What is considered healthy? That is little tricky, and definitively differs from culture to culture. That’s how we get different concepts of let’s say breakfast.
How we shop for food? By looking for the contents of the food, listed on the back label called “nutrition facts”. Nutrition facts – the credo of a conscious modern man. These days we do not believe our own eyes, we look for the info and the proof of quality.
Certificate is what matters. For the most people that is all they care for. That label becomes more important that the smell, taste or the look of the food. Who does the consumer trust? Company’s logo? Price of the item? Or the almighty list with mysterious and exotically chemical components of that pack of food?
Playing with these thoughts I have come up with the following simple concept:
I would make a Nutrition Facts label with all the ingredients good Continental Breakfast must have. This label itself will substitute the breakfast (why not? It has all what this breakfast is worth of!) Then I would print that label on the edible sheets in actual size, using edible inks. On the opening night I would serve the audience these labels for consummation. Labels would be displayed in the glass refrigerator in the gallery (similar to ones in the supermarket).
In the Balkans we still trust our own senses more than anything manufacturers might print on the package. We must taste the label itself in order to evaluate it. If it is as healthy as it says why not eat it? We have proved to be the specialists in continental break(fast). We break everything really fast, especially continent, right? And that is only because we trust our own reasons rather than suggestions on the paper (treaties, etc).
Now, let’s try to change our suspicion into trust, by trying that western novelty, the nutrition fact list, rather than the content of that nicely wrapped advertising product.
It’s all about concept, rather than content!