Building relationships between art and food at Appetite
By Clara Che Wei Peh

'My Own Words' is a monthly series which features personal essays by practitioners in the Southeast Asian art community. They deliberate on their locality's present circumstances, articulating observations and challenges in their respective roles.

When I was an aspiring arts worker, I was uncertain about how I would carve out space for myself in the Singapore arts ecosystem. In 2018, I interned with the Economic Development Board under the Visual Arts team and was tasked to work on a project to evaluate the robustness of the local arts ecosystem. At the time, Art Stage had been on the decline for several years after its peak in 2015 and the art district Gillman Barracks had already seen multiple rounds of tenant turnovers and departures since its opening in 2012. Interviewing gallerists, art advisors, collectors, artists, and other players in the industry, it became clear that many felt wary of the lack of a strong collector base and the shrinking industry in Singapore. Some suggested there needed to be more cross-industry collaborations for companies and individuals to see the value of art outside of strictly art spaces, and others felt there was a need for initiatives that welcomed and could foster more patrons. Either way, it was clear from these conversations that the ecosystem would welcome new experiments and initiatives that could expand the existing scene.

I met Ivan Brehm, Chef/Owner of Appetite, in April 2021. In our first conversation, we talked about the rising popularity of NFTs, my research interests in the art market, and what Appetite wanted to achieve within the local and international arts scene. Originating as the Research & Development arm of Restaurant Nouri in 2018, Appetite is driven by what Ivan calls “Crossroads Thinking”, which is an approach that is rooted in interdisciplinarity and cross-culturalism. Ivan looks at cooking through the lens of material culture, anthropology, philosophy and other ways of thinking, to take food as an entry point to broader conversations about culture and globalisation at large. In designing Appetite, he looks towards concepts such as relational aesthetics, rasa aesthetics, and Gesamkunstwerk, which roughly translates to a total work of art, to direct focus towards people to be at the centre of a multi-sensorial experience. These ideas resonated deeply, as it looks away from the conventional white cube display model and moves towards integrating the artwork into daily life for a broader audience. It became apparent to me that Appetite would be the perfect playground to present more expansive art experiences and cultivate new audiences for the arts, and I joined the team as the Art Lead and Curator.

“Appetite is driven by what Ivan calls “Crossroads Thinking”, which is an approach that is rooted in interdisciplinarity and cross-culturalism. Ivan looks at cooking through the lens of material culture, anthropology, philosophy and other ways of thinking, to take food as an entry point to broader conversations about culture and globalisation at large.”

Installation documentation of ‘Constructing Matter’. Image courtesy of Appetite. Photo by Jonathan Tan.

‘STAGING: MAPPLETHORPE’, installation view. Image courtesy of Appetite. Photo by Jonathan Tan.

I have visited many exhibitions set in white cube galleries and museums or even spaces repurposed for the sake of exhibition-making but curating for Appetite is a new ballgame. Beyond the logistical constraints of the site, Appetite’s multi-purpose nature also means that the exhibition exists alongside and within the restaurant and record bar. The exhibited artworks works should settle into the space and live and breathe alongside people as they are hung in one’s own home, without becoming lost. A typical gallery-goer may take one glance or spend up to 15 minutes with an artwork, but a guest at Appetite could be seated on a couch, across or right by an artwork, where they would be for the next two or three hours. This allows the visitor to build a strong relationship with an artwork and enables more room for conversations around the exhibition, whether it happens naturally as the work slips into their chat with fellow guests or with the front-of-house staff giving a tour. In addition, a guest could be at Appetite because of the food, the wine selection, the record library or a multitude of reasons outside of the exhibition, yet after they have walked through the door, the artworks on the walls will be a part of their experience. This allows us to reach a diverse audience, but it also implies a need to relate to people of different backgrounds and interests. Balancing all of these considerations together was intimidating at the start, but over time, as I settled into the space and leaned further into the idea that art should co-exist with people and not be seen in isolation, it began to feel natural.

Listening Room at Appetite. Image Courtesy of Appetite. Photo by Khoo Guo Jie.

In a recent Zoom call, Wawi Navarozza – one of the artists whose work is in our current exhibition ‘a bird flies into the mirror’ – remarked that taking an artwork outside of a gallery does not mean it has to lose its criticality. Her words keep coming back to me, and remind me of what I had learnt in my internship in 2018. Bridging between art, food, and music, Appetite fosters more expansive interactions with artworks and welcomes new audiences to develop a greater ease with going to exhibitions. In the longer term, I hope that Appetite will be one of the many initiatives needed that will help build towards a more robust arts ecosystem for Singapore, and beyond.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of Art & Market.

Click here to read a recap of A&M Salon 4: Art X Food, a conversation among Ivan Brehm and artists Adeline Kueh and Yen Phang, moderated by Clara Peh at Appetite in September 2022.

This essay was first published in CHECK-IN 2022, A&M’s second annual publication. Click here to read the digital copy in full, or to purchase a copy of the limited print edition.

Read all My Own Words essays here.

About the Writer
Clara Che Wei Peh is Art Lead and Curator at Appetite. She curated exhibitions including ‘STAGING: MAPPLETHORPE’ (2022), ‘Constructing Matter’ (2021), and ‘Right Click + Save’ (2021). Clara is also the Founder of NFT Asia, an adjunct lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, and an independent arts writer.