The Belly Banquet 
Beáta Szabó currently lives and works in Budapest. She was born in 1981 in Hungary.She studied Design at the University of West Hungary, Painting at the Anadolu University, and recently graduated from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in 2021.Her previous work with internal organs led Beáta to her present interest in the relationship between body and food. She has been studying the transmutation of food into the body, the transformation of substances and the process of digestion. Her attention has recently turned to an area of the female abdomen, a part of the female body with multiple meanings. This area is where the woman feeds herself through her intestines also where she feeds her fetus through the umbilical cord when she’s pregnant.

Event
Reykjavík Art Museum / 17-19 August 2021

The Belly Banquet is a community event related to the abdomen proposed by artist Beáta Szabó, the event consists of a two days workshop (17-18th august) and an open banquet on the 19th of August. Beáta invites 5 female participants to create food sculptures of their bellies. During a two day workshop they will together create sculptures of female bellies. They will make negative molds of the navel and belly of the participating women, then pour the positives with different foods like chocolate, fat and gelatin. On Thursday 19th of August they will invite guests to consume these body-food sculptures as part of a banquet.

“The navel, while still an external part of my body, is close to my guts, giving the sense of a connection between inside and outside.”

In her early high school years, artist Beáta Szabó attended a forensic autopsy. Throughout her med studies and later art studies, she couldn’t forget the first moment of cutting into the body. The path of food inside the body leads to the intestines. Belly becomes food and that food goes into the belly, literally. With this pseudo self-cannibalistic feast ritual, we play sensually at the transmutation intersection of food and body.This event is a collaboration between the Reykjavík Art Museum and the creative platform MÁL/TÍÐ.

Program:1 7th of August
After a brief practical introduction, the first part is a performative act in which Beata takes a silicone-plaster imprint of the navel-abdomen of the participants. Imprinting takes about an hour lying down. She will protect the clothes (and underwear), 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲. Imprinting takes about an hour and a half lying down. To facilitate this, the artists will be screening video for the participants during this time.
Introduction and silicone imprinting – maximum timing if another sampling is required: 11 am to 3 pm

18th of August
The second day continues in the kitchen where food sculptures are cast based on silicone negatives. For this, the silicone-plaster molds are prepared for casting: encircled with an adjustable cake form, which is sealed and supported by clay. We then heat a few food ingredients such as chocolate, fat, cheese, gelatin (the latter enriched with extra ingredients) to a pourable state. After pouring, we let the food sculptures cure one night in the fridge.
Sculpture casting in the kitchen: 11 am to 4 pm

19th of August
The last day, Beata and the participants prepare the food sculptures for the banquet. They will be served with various complementary dishes and utensils. The banquet is an open event, participants, their families, friends and guests are invited to eat each other’s and their own bellies together.
If necessary, we can cast more sculptures: 11 am to 4 pm
Preparations: 4 pm to 7pm
Banquet: 7 pm to 9 pm

Ticket price: FREE for two days workshops + conception of a food safe silicone mould that participants can take home.

Send an email to info.maltid@mail.com to register.

The banquet is free and open to all.