A return to the fluorescent Banquet:Feasting at Orleans House through the eyes of an Artist

Описание: This talk by Orleans House Gallery is the forth in the London Luminaries series 4 entitled A return to the fluorescent Banquet: Feasting at Orleans House through the eyes of an Artist

Jonathan Roson from the art collective Alice in Hackneyland will be talking about his work the Fluorescent Banquet, which was commissioned in 2020 to celebrate 300 years of the Octagon Room. The work and Jonathan’s talk explore centuries of feasting at OHG, the complex relationships entwined with this history and its significance today.

Jonathan is an Australian British artist, of Asian cultural heritage, currently living and working in London. Jonathan holds a Bachelor degree in Horticultural Science from Western Sydney University and a Master of Fine Arts from UNSW Art and Design. He is a current member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and co-founder of artist collective Alice in Hackneyland, he has exhibited locally and internationally.

The Thames west of London has been the resort of royalty, aristocrats, artists, writers and wealthy property owners for centuries. As well as building elegant villas, they developed gardens which provided a feast for the senses and supplied food for the table.

In our own times, issues of the sustainability of food production and equity of its distribution are hot topics. In this series of 14 talks, we explore how food was produced and consumed in the past by our Luminaries to help inform discussions on the future of food and drink. Much food was produced locally; great houses such as Chiswick House and Fulham Palace had their own kitchen gardens and Alexander Pope boasted of the sources of his meat supply: ‘To Hounslow Heath I point, and Banstead-Down, / Thence comes your Mutton, and these chicks my own.’ Yet modern luxuries such as tea and coffee stretched supply chains around the globe. Wining and dining also provided hosts with opportunities to display their hospitality and particular taste through the choice of menu and table setting.

This varied banquet of 14 talks thus also explore cultural dimensions of food and drink.