Municipal Kitchens




Municipal Kitchens

– Exhibition & Event programme at -
nGbK, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst


The exhibition and event programmme Municipal Kitchens reimagined communal eating in cities. It gathered works by international and local artists and collectives that expose the current state and injustice of food systems, as well as ones that proposed new forms of community-based eating. The artworks were accompanied by a weekly event program and free-of-charge communal meals, transforming the nGbK space – previously a fast food restaurant in a former market hall – into a public kitchen.

(event programme further below)


This public programme was supported by the Berlin Senate and Culture Moves Europe, mobility grant of the Goethe Institute and the Europian Union

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Photo by Benjamin Renter









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Municipal Kitchens brought together a multitude of artistic practices and positions around a central sculptural installation, the ‘kitchen table’, to develop visions for another form of food culture. The surrounding exhibition featured works that interrogate the current state and injustice of food systems, as well as ones that develop visions for new forms of community-based eating. A project by Gatari Surya Kusuma, Åsa Sonjasdotter, and Daniela Zambrano Almidón breaks down the role of potatoes in international traditions. A Berlin-specific installation and cooking performances by the Cocina CoLaboratorio collective embodies the pluriverse of the “Milpa”, a Mexican crop-growing system. A film work by Franziska Pierwoss dissects the relevance of local supermarkets in times of inflation and the decay of the state. A wall-size installation has been produced by Myvillages, who extend the lumbung network they developed during documenta fifteen to Berlin to make and share drinks in support of local communities. A new tapestry work by Elia Nurvista unpicks the global networks and history of colonial palm oil trade. A video work by Mimi Ọnụọha challenges the narrative of progress by highlighting the discrepancy between production and distribution of food. Johann Arens’ collages from reclaimed display materials draw tender and abstract portraits of the London food venues they have been gathered from. An undercover audio tour of local supermarkets (for example the Kaufland branch downstairs from nGbK) by Alicja Rogalska introduces a disruption into daily shopping habits. Finally, a specially commissioned historical narrative of the nGbK site on the old Berlin Central Market Hall by writer Annett Gröschner and a collection of further texts allowed visitors to explore the research context of the exhibition.

The exhibition space featured a working kitchen run by food artist and curator Cherry Truluck and a central table installation created by Another Provision to host communal meals and events connecting international struggles and local action. These workshops, talks, performances and actions were realized collaboratively by the participating artists and Berlin-based food justice organizations – among others Gutsgarten Hellersdorf, Satellit, Torhaus Koch Kollektiv, and Über den Tellerrand, who are working in different locations throughout the city. These co-facilitated events and meals were free of charge and open to all, creating cumulative engagement with questions such as: How can we make kitchens part of public urban space and de-privatize the labor of cooking? How can food become a common good that connects residents from different communities? What if affordable, around-the-clock meals were available across our cities in spaces that include child care provisions? What if these spaces were community-led? How can food, a deeply personal and often divisive issue, be a source of community connection and collective action? In the process, new trans-disciplinary and international dialogues and solidarities will be sparked.

artists: Alicja Rogalska, Another Provision, Cherry Truluck, Cocina CoLaboratorio, Elia Nurvista, Franziska Pierwoss, Gatari Surya Kusuma / Åsa Sonjasdotter / Daniela Zambrano Amidón, Johann Arens, Mimi Ọnụọha, Myvillages, Pierogi Princesses

nGbK work group: Johann Arens, Hanna Baumann, Miriam Lowack, Alicja Rogalska, Cherry Truluck



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MUNICIPAL KITCHENS - Public programme - nGbK Berlin, June-August 2024

Friday, June 28 - Municipal Kitchens Launch
Collaborative feast with social gastronomy organization Über den Tellerrand. Communal „chop and chat“ and cooking workshop. Speeches and reading by Annett Gröschner. Community feast and gathering.

Friday, July 5 - The Choice Is Yours
Discussion at the dinner table led by artist Franziska Pierwoss exploring the democratic potential of a supermarket. An organic feast.

Friday, July 12 Milpa Pluriverse
Cocina CoLaboratorio in collaboration with Satellit host a public gathering borne out of a weeklong slow-cooking process built on collective small actions of care, inspired by the plural languages of the Milpa.

Saturday, July 20 - Cooking Palm
Indonesia is the primary producer of Red Palm Oil yet it barely features in Indonesian food culture and is instead mainly exported to West Africa. In this cooking workshop with artist Elia Nurvista, Indonesian food knowledge will be applied to “appropriate” the ingredient and create a brand new dish.

Thursday, July 25 - Pierogi Dreams
Almost every food culture features some sort of dumpling. The Pierogi Princesses pay tribute to one of the greatest, the dynamic, the humble, the Pierogi. Flavour ballot. Communal pierogi preparation and festive meal.

Saturday, July 27 - Rural Undercurrents Day Trip
Join Myvillages for a day trip to community project Gutsgarten in Hellersdorf + station urbaner kulturen/ nGbK Hellersdorf, including foraging of herbs and an introduction to Company Drinks. Pot Luck Picnic.

Sunday, July 28 - Rural Undercurrents Communal Meal
Communal meal highlighting ingredients from Hellersdorf, hosted by Myvillages at nGbK am Alex

Saturday, August 3 - Papitas Tarpuy-cha – Earthing Potatoes and Healing with Herbs 1
Saturday, August 10 - Papitas Tarpuy-cha – Earthing Potatoes and Healing with Herbs 2
A workshop which weaves together stories of places told through recipes. Led by Gatari Surya Kusuma, Åsa Sonjasdotter + Daniela Zambrano Amidón participants will make food together and reflect on embodied knowledge of food and cooking as ways of socializing and sharing.

Sunday, August 18 - Küfa (Küche für alle/Kitchen for all)
Municipal Kitchens’ closing event features a collective cooking, chopping and feasting event with Torhaus Koch Kollektiv. Bring ingredients – leftovers from your fridge or produce from your garden, bring your friends or just your curiosity. The event will bring together artists and food activists from Berlin and beyond to discuss the possibilities of a kitchen for everyone.




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Photo by Peter Haplin










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