Dimitri Kotsaras & Jennifer Nelson

Greece/USA

For ev+a 2006 we proposed the formation of a cookbook through an experiment in cooking. The recipes will be the result of our excursions around Limerick, during which we propose to cook for and with families and individuals in their own homes. The proposal we bring, as visitors, is given door to door, shopping bags in hand. We offer an encounter with one another. Our unannounced appearance offers a dynamic experiment in generosity on both sides of the doorstep. Will we be received into people’s homes? Will an encounter with foreign visitors be welcome or frightening? Will we ourselves feel safe?

The first threshold delineates the tension around questions of hospitality, the obligations of host and guest, social, economic, and religious sensibilities or insensibilities, and the meaning of giving. Should our proposal be accepted and we pass the first threshold, other questions immediately follow. To what degree will we be allowed to host the event within a home that is not ours? What dietary regimens and household procedures will we need to accommodate? What happens if we are unable to do this? Will our host feel a social obligation to return or repay the gift – perhaps an obligation that is a burden to them?

(Text: give(a)way catalogue, 2006)