Rirkrit Tiravanija – Criticism

New York and Chaing Mai based Artist Rirkrit Tiravanija regularly makes dinner for museum and gallery-goers as a part of his artistic practice. In his creation of food, he invites guests into becoming and experiencing art. Clearly referencing the work of another conceptual giant, Gordon Matta-Clark, even going so far as to re-create his Open House  (1972), Tiravanija’s work is equal parts artist and participant; the two are contingent for each other in order for the work to exist. The cooking of Pad Thai references Tiravanija’s background as well as internationalism within the context of aesthetics.

• Renate Dohmen’s op-ed questions the ‘cosmopolitan criticality’ in Tiravanija’s Pad Thai work, interested in the place of Pad Thai, a food deriving from cross cultural and Euro-centric influence, in the cosmopolitan context.
• Jerry Saltz’s 2007 review of a show up at the David Zwirner Gallery; Untitled is the recreation of Tiravanija’s own studio, referencing a distinct period in art as well as the evolution of Tiravanija’s work in the 1990’s.  In flux, Tiravanija is the actor in his piece, continuing to offer up good conversation his distilled time-warp.
• MoMa’s well documented exhibition of Untitled (Free) can be found on their website– a re-staging of both his 303 piece and the piece at David Zwirner.