Courses for Dis-course(s)

In Courses for Dis-Course(s), artist Roo Dhissou conjured up a space for dining, eating, cooking, and gathering that manifested in a sort of kitchen, dining room, café, restaurant, chill space. The project included a series of exhibitions and dining events for British South Asian artists that took place at GLOAM in Sheffield and Primary in Nottingham. The exhibition at GLOAM was curated by Sharples.

Roo explored who got a seat at the table, the politics of orthodoxies, the art space, the home, the kitchen, and the gallery by presenting a new body of sculptural, functional, and architectural works that employed a variety of British Asian visual languages, culinary traditions, and materiality. Langar Thalis inlaid with gut health tips, Cha stations, posh tea sets, Manjis, rugs, yoga mats, seed charts, tablecloths embroidered with political and theoretical texts, as well as Spotify playlists made during the course of the project, filled the spaces. The project questioned how hosting through conviviality, cooking, eating together, and conversation could create complex spaces for complaint, lament, bonding, stickiness, nuance, and the opportunity to be both comfortable and discomforted in our differences, similarities, and oppositions. The installation was used by visitors and animated with additional public events. A publication and podcast were produced documenting conversations and other outcomes.

Courses for Dis-Course(s) was a programme created by Roo Dhissou in partnership with Sharples at GLOAM and formed part of Primary’s Nourishment programme, a long-term project that delved into food justice, nourishment, growing, and sustainable food systems. Together with the artist, GLOAM and Primary worked on a new form of artist-institution relationship that nurtured equity and reciprocity. This project was supported by Arts Council England. For Sharples, this curatorial project was a way to support artists, artist-led communities, and practices of care.