Mertle and Ania launching Mertle's Menus at the Experimental Food Society

Mertle launched Mertle’s Menus at Truman’s Brewery for The Experimental Food Society 21-22nd October. There were two slices of Mertle’s food-themed game show and new project Eating Portraits, where participants performed eating in front of Mertle and her camera. A response to the cultural taboo of eating in front of the camera or  being seen eating, see the results here:

Gorgeous participant in the Eating Portrait series

Emily Crane (below left), fashion designer of Cultivated Couture and one of Mertle’s game show guests puts one of her micro nutrient cell creations atop Mertle’s shoulder. (see http://cultivatedcouture.blogspot.com)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mertle/sets/72157627809004873/

To join the project come to Truman’s Brewery, London E1, TODAY between 11am-6pm!  Game show is at 1.30pm.

MERTLE’S MENUS – MAIN SHOW -

Mertle launches her food game show with special guests and audience participation.

MERTLE’S MENUS – SIDE SHOW

Meet a stranger. Devise a Menu.

(All Photos:  Christa Holka).

I wonder what prompted the tears and what ignited the heat.

Here’s a review in DIVA:

http://www.divamag.co.uk/category/arts-entertainment/review-i-look-you-in-the-eye.aspx

The above photo is Q at the boardroom table, where her performances were 30 floors up at Clifford Chance, 10, Upper Bank Street, London, E14. Shot by Christa Holka.

There are talks underway to extend the project. If it goes to plan, it’s going to be mighty thrilling.

Mertle will be running a one-off workshop: We Need To Talk About Eating for participants on 8th July 9.30am-12.30pm, at the Edinburgh Rooms, University of Greenwich, London SE10. To register your interest in participating, please hit the Contact me button. This workshop is the result of Dr Paola Tubaro’s and my funded research project exploring interdisciplinary perspectives towards eating and food.

featuring Q at the Royal Festival Hall, London, March 2011. Shot by Christa Holka

featuring Q at the Royal Festival Hall, London, March 2011. Shot by Christa Holka

I Look You In The Eye

A series of one-to-one’s lasting one hour in a private alcove of the 30^th floor. Against the backdrop of an urban sky rise overlooking the docklands, Q invites strangers to sit with her for 5-10 minutes in silence and reflection.

A private exchange of the gaze is gently held between the elusive character, Q, and a stranger. The performance explores the disturbances between self and other and asks: what do we see when we look at one another? What is constructed, what is make-believe, and what can we leave behind?

The performances, I Look You In The Eye, have travelled to the Royal Suite of the Royal Festival Hall and Vogue Fabrics, a working sewing studio in the East End, London. Each performance is specific to the site and participants are invited to mark the exchange with Q by contributing to her own construction.

If you are interested in a one-to-one, please hit the contact me button.

6 June-28 July by appt Fridays. 12.00-18.00. To make an appt, ring Nigel Frank on 020 7006 5384. Clifford Chance, 10 Upper Street, London, E14 5JJ

The high pitch of the detector became at times comical, at times over bearing. I spent a fortune on that instrument. It was recommended by the National Geographic, the same place that gave my last show a thumbs up. Of course it had to work. But it didn’t.

Many of the agents talked about the performance afterwards, about anecdotes, longings, or what was going to happen to the stash, though I’m not convinced anyone was too bothered about that last one. But I had a resounding memory. My Nan had instructed me to ‘keep your eyes down on the ground at all times’ when I was  younger. Not out of a need to give me a hunchback but because of any loose change on the floor.

“Find enough money” she said, “and you’ll never have to work.”

Hmm. Same old: No metal here, no pounds there, but a lot of medieval bone.

(Image shows the bags of findings labelled with each Agent’s time of Metal Detection. On display in the Edinburgh Rooms, Old Royal Naval College, photo: Agent 5). Video clips to follow.

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