Guests will discover a fresh, farm-to-table cuisine paired with a modern art exhibit demonstrating a twist on traditional expression at the Art + Food Lab at Welcome Chicken + Donuts on Monday April 27.
The dinner, coordinated in partnership with ASU’s Art Museum and Welcome Hospitality, will feature an art exhibit created by Yoshua Okón and will combine two vastly different art forms, requiring guests to use multiple senses.
“Octopus” is set be featured during the dinner, and depicts an alternative view of the Guatemalan Civil War. Okón’s website describes the piece as a battlefield relocated to U.S. soil at a Home Depot parking lot in Los Angeles, with performances by those who fought during the Guatemalan Civil War.
Michael Babcock is a chef and partner with Welcome Hospitality, the group behind the series of Welcome restaurants. He said he is excited to display his creativity by formulating a well-thought-out menu.
“We wanted to have our own artistic input for the event,” he said.
Babcock said he hopes to highlight the context of time and space, and that he hopes the staff will work with other local farms to find the most seasonal products. The Farm at Agritopia in Gilbert is one of the local purveyors to be featured at the event.
Juno Schaser, public relations specialist with ASU’s Art Museum, views the Art + Food Lab dinner as a way to create opportunities for visiting artists in an effort to exchange ideas with the Phoenix community.
“Pairing Okón’s work with a menu created by a local chef featuring local ingredients can open up a dialogue and cultural exchange that doesn’t necessarily have an endpoint in mind,” Schaser said.
Brainstorming proved to be a main component during the planning process, according to Julio Morales, curator for ASU’s Art Museum. Through various steps, he said he found similarities between the creative process of culinary arts and showcasing fine arts into a laboratory setting.
“We can see how both the artist and chef take risks in order to achieve an understanding of the contemporary issues translated to both a sensorial and visual sense,” Morales said. “Perhaps that is the best way to cultivate culture, understanding and community.”
Guests of the event will be able to enjoy Welcome Chicken + Donuts’ large, rustic street-side patio, with its wooden family-style tables.
Morales said he hopes guests will walk away with an understanding that art, much like food, can become a daily ritual in their lives. He also encouraged guests to uncover new meanings of current events that can enrich the community.
Events such as the Art + Food Lab have the potential to bring awareness to otherwise overlooked mediums, Schaser said.
“Very often, these kinds of smaller events with visiting artists can become the basis or inspiration for larger projects, such as an exhibition, or a major public event,” she said.
As the chef, Babcock said he wants to his guests to not only have a better sense of community and the potential that can come from artistic forms, but to also walk away full and happy.
“It’s going to be a very different dining format,” Babcock said. “I’m really excited to combine our artistic mediums.”
The event will be held from 7-10 p.m. at 1535 E Buckeye Road.
Contact the reporter at Katie.Self@asu.edu.
