GhostFood

By Miriam Simun

The Contemporary hosted GhostFood a roving Baltimore-wide project, in collaboration with the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University. GhostFood, developed by New York-based artist Miriam Simun, is a performance served out of a mobile food cart that examines biodiversity loss brought on by climate change. GhostFood servers guide the public through a pre-nostalgic experience that engages dialogue, considers environmental change and human innovation, and enhances food science understanding. Using technology, memory, and olfactory stimulation, GhostFood serves flavor illusions of foods that are threatened with extinction due to climate change. This iteration of GhostFood was organized by The Contemporary in collaboration with eighteen students in the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University enrolled in ‘GhostFood: Curatorial Practicum with The Contemporary,’ which ran Fall 2015. The cart traveled Baltimore throughout October-November 2015.

Some of the official events:

  • GHOSTFOOD | FALL 2015
    will travel in Baltimore City throughout October-November 2015, with select site engagements highlighted below. All activities are free and open to the public.
  • PENN STATION | 10/15 | 6pm-9pm
    in conjunction with ongoing activity at Penn Station Plaza, hosted by Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc.
  • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY HOMEWOOD | 11/2 | 6pm-9pm
    with panel discussion: 7pm-8:30pm
    in conjunction with a panel discussion featuring artist Miriam Simun, anthropologist and educator Anand Pandian, moderated by Adam Sheingate who is the Chair of the Department of Political Science at JHU. The event is free and will be held at JHU's Homewood Campus in Mergenthaler, Room 111, from 7pm-8:30pm.
  • LEXINGTON MARKET | 11/4 | 5pm-9pm
    in conjunction with Light Up Lexington, a series of quarterly events hosted by Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment, Inc.

MIRIAM SIMUN makes creative disruptions: objects, images and experiences that that poke, provoke, and re-imagine existing systems. Based in scientific, historical and ethnographic research, much of her work interrogates the implications of socio-technical and ecological change. Simun’s work has been presented internationally, including the Museum of Arts and Design, Rauschenberg Project Space, Ronald Feldman Gallery, Postmasters Gallery, Kappatos Gallery, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Her work has been supported by Creative Capital, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and recognized internationally in publications including the BBC, New York Times, CBC, MTV, The New Yorker, Forbes, Art21, and ARTNews.