To bring awareness to the ever growing food waste and to show how much food sustainability the market and consumer need today, an art exhibit that literally took the statement 'Food for thought' was opened last week at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.
The cathedral has been home to many social exhibits that addresses important issues of today through arts, programming and community dialogue.
The art exhibit is divided into seven themes, which were water, soil, seed, farm, market, meal and waste. Over 30 artists joined the exhibit.
Art was installed in the different areas of the Cathedral's seven chapels and 14 bays.
"As you go around the cathedral, the architecture takes you in a circle that heads toward the exit, so it's almost like the food cycle," Robin Kahn, who organized the exhibition with art historian Kirby Gookin, and artist-curator, said.
The exhibit brings awareness to how the food is made, where it comes from, the people who made it. Some of the artists are environmentalists while others used food, science and art in their exhibits.
The largest exhibit concentrated on how the civilization is in decline, and sent a message about gluttony. The artist incorporated three picnic tables arranged in a 38-foot row filled with chaotic scenes: a broken human figure, a dinner-plate-size penny divided like a pizza and a cracked globe suspended on a pulley. It was by Tom Otterness.
Another exhibit incorporated the 'Garden of Eden' and it took three cathedral bays, the exhibit was done by Los Angeles based artists David Burns and Austin Young.
Burns and Young were also known for their antics, wherein they mapped fruit trees on public property in urban areas worldwide.
"Perhaps we can turn cities into places of abundance by planting fruit trees in public spaces" so that "nobody needs to go hungry," said Burns.
The exhibition shines a light on the ever growing food demand by society and also food waste that is turning the Earth slowly into a wasteland.
