“We should be to the animals what the angels are to the people,” said the controversial Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Whether we believe in angels as spiritual beings, energies or symbols, we know what they represent. We probably have to recognize that it is not at all such a role that we play. With animal welfare in mind – but not least the future of the planet – more and more people worldwide are opting out of meat. We Norwegians, on the other hand, have increased our meat consumption by as much as 50 percent since 1990. It is an extremely inflamed and demanding topic that Trondheim Art Museum is tackling with the exhibition “More Meat Less Meat”, which has been created in collaboration with NTNU and the research project Meatigation. BURGER WEIGHT: How many burgers do you have in you? This scale measures the body mass of the audience in the number of burgers. Photo: Lili Zaneta / Trondheim art museum UNCOVERED: This Snap filter turns the audience into a piece of meat. It is among the sights in what news’s reviewer calls a “lush and fun” exhibition at the Trondheim art museum. Photo: Lili Zaneta / Trondheim art museum Photo: Dixin Wang / Trondheim art museum Colorful and meaty A lush and colorful exhibition meets us at Gråmølna in Trondheim. Here you can sit on puffs shaped like meatballs and ponder what could have been a “NorVegan” national dish. Through a film, we follow a Norwegian gardener who lives exclusively from what he manages to grow in his own garden, summer and winter. You can step on a scale and have your own body mass translated into a certain number of hamburgers, and spectacular costumes hang from the ceiling – including a textile replica of Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress. Here they wanted to credit the right woman behind this innovative outfit, namely the Canadian sculptor Jana Sterbak. DRESSED: Canadian sculptor Jana Sterbak was behind Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress from the MTV Awards in 2010. She is also behind a textile replica of the dress (left), which is on display in Trondheim. MATT SAYLES / AP / LILI ZANETA / TRONDHEIM KUNSTMUSEUM The exhibition does not consist of works by named individual artists as we are used to. Here, research and art intertwine, and there are two large, unfinished groups of artists who have created the various projects on display: The Center for Genomic Gastronomy and Chicks on Speed. Political quarter as art There are few things that arouse such fierce resentment as the debate about meat. It’s about our proud farming traditions, where we cultivate the myth of healthy Norwegian agriculture with happy, free-ranging livestock. Although more and more revelations show that reality is not always so pretty. But it is also about us questioning what we see as old, Norwegian traditions. In Norway, meat is culture, yes, maybe even identity, as Sylvi Listhaug put it in an easily exclusionary way: “Here in Norway we eat pork, drink alcohol and show our faces.” No one should mess with our meatballs, so to speak! FRISE: In this Politik kvarter-inspired work, meatballs hang in rows over an entire wall, ranked according to how much meat is in them. Photo: Lili Zaneta / Trondheim art museum One such debate, which was just about meatballs, raged in the Politisk kvarter in May 2021. It was about the proposal to season the meatballs at the retirement home with a small percentage of beans and lentils, for sustainability and health. It’s not every day that Political Quarter becomes art, but this broadcast is actually the starting point for one of the more space-consuming works at the exhibition at Gråmølna. Here, the artist group The Center for Genomic Gastronomy has made a large selection of different meat pies, and created a photographic frieze where we can see the cross-section of the meat pies from a 100 per cent plant-based variety to the 99 per cent meat-based type. The project asks the question: What exactly is meat, and why are such enormously strong emotions connected to it? Skinless self-portrait For the exhibition, a separate Snapchat filter has been developed that allows you to see your own body as a raw piece of meat. Here you can take a completely skinless selfie. Another fun thought experiment that the exhibition plays with is the relationship between plant meat and drag culture. Can we manage to look at the plant-based alternatives as a type of meat in drag? Can we consider meat as a less rigid, and more fluid category, as we have turned to look at gender? MEAT IN A NEW DRESS: Can vegetarian products be seen as meat in a disguise? The exhibition explores the relationship between plant meat and drag culture. Photo: Liz Dom / Trondheim art museum RESTAURANT: “To Flavor Our Tears” is described as an experimental restaurant that places humans back in the food chain, as a food source for other species. The picture shows small fish feeding on dead skin cells on human feet. Photo: Dixin Wang / Trondheim art museum MEAT CAKE PUFF: What would be a “NorVegan” national dish? “More Meat Less Meat” is very well curated. In an exciting and lush way, the various projects form a multi-voiced conversation about the complex theme. Here, humor and excess are used to address initially rather unpopular and inflammatory issues without raising the index finger (or middle finger) at the audience. The discourse around our food future does not become more exciting, and unfortunately the development does not go faster either, because we spread shame and discomfort. The only thing we achieve is that people go into self-defense and refuse to deal with the subject matter. “More Meat Less Meat” is a fun exhibit that I’m sure will spark valuable curiosity and reflection. news reviews Photo: Center of Genomic Gastronomy Title: “More Meat Less Meat” Artists: Chicks On Speed and Center for Genomic Gastronomy. Developed in consultation with the research project Meatigation. Place: Trondheim Art Museum Date: 15 February – 30 April 2023
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“More Meat Less Meat” at Trondheim Art Museum – Reviews and recommendations
