El Internacional. Archaeological Sandwich
Exhibition and Tapas Bar & Restaurant
July 26–29, 2018
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Faena Art is pleased to announce the opening of El Internacional. Archaeological Sandwich by Miralda and Montse Guillén at Faena Art Center Buenos Aires.
El Internacional is a site-specific reimagination of El Internacional Tapas Bar & Restaurant, an artistic-culinary project and social experiment in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. While the restaurant operated only from 1984 to 1986, it has been imbedded in the DNA of the New York art world of the 1980s in such a way that it can be seen as a key marker of the current multidisciplinary immersive experimentation that is a sweeping trend in the global art market. Long before "experiential," "participatory," and "immersive" were buzz words that identify this moment in contemporary art, El Internacional was all of these things inherently—its wide reach is undeniable and its long legs have traveled across the world in three different incarnations since its original creation.
Conceived of by catalan artist Miralda and restaurant and chef, Montse Guillén, the restaurant served as a space for the daring exploration of cross-cultural, trans-disciplinary aesthetics and practices, merging the cultural contexts of contemporary art and cuisine. It became an iconic symbol of 1980s New York during which nightlife and epicurean experience were placed in the same context as the visual and performing arts, a fusion that ultimately came to define the cultural production of that time and place. Miralda, Montse and El Internacional were at the center of this vanguard moment wherein artists did not distinguish between disciplines but were more interested in creating platforms for social interaction and lived experience, leading the way for the current zeitgeist of immersive, participatory art installations.
“Artistic exchange and cross-disciplinary cultural creation have always been fundamental to our vision. For this reason we invited Miralda and Montse Guillén to reimagine the Faena Art Center as El Internacional, an artistic and culinary experience that generates social interaction. By erasing the traditional borders between contemporary art and cuisine, creating new rituals, reinventing art through food and food through art, this project is exemplary of the spirit that inspires our multidisciplinary program. It is an honor to welcome these great artists to Buenos Aires and open the Art Center as a space for the creation of new communities.” Alan Faena
El Internacional for Buenos Aires is not simply a recreation of or monument to this historic cultural gem, but rather a compression of multiple times and spaces, of flavors and traditions have traveled from the old world to the new world and back again, and ultimately a barometer for this current moment of contemporary cultural consumption.
Miralda and Montse commented, “Traveling with El Internacional to Buenos Aires will be like a lobster dream that upon waking, one finds himself at the peak of rose-painted silo, full of memories.”
El Internacional in Buenos Aires will feature historic objects and new works by Miralda, in addition to a menu of international flavors and ingredients designed in collaboration with James Beard award-winning chef Paul Qui and chefs Marina Carluccio and Emiliano Yulita, the new menu will introduce artful dishes based upon flavors from Spain and Catalonia, present in Argentina along with a conceptual focus on the way that ingredients have traveled from the old world to the new world. The original “Blue Margarita” from El Internacional will be reimagined by bartender Ramiro Ferreri.
Exhibition Hours
July 26, 10pm–1am
July 28 and 29, 6pm–1am
July 29, 2–10pm
Free and open to the public. More info
Faena Art Center Buenos Aires
Aimé Painé 1169, Faena Buenos Aires, Argentina
About Faena Art
Faena Art is a nonprofit organization that houses and produces post-disciplinary and time-based experiences. A catalyst for innovative, site-specific, and immersive creative practices, Faena Art is a transformative bridge across the Americas, between the south and the north, the popular and the experimental, activism and research. Faena Art fosters new models for performative social interaction that transcend the traditional boundaries of art, science, philosophy, and social practice.
