While studying at ETH Zurich, Blanka Major was already organizing open, community-based cooking sessions. These provided an opportunity to discover different cultures and ways of eating, and to bring together diverse foods and people. Her graduation thesis was dedicated to the connections between cities and food—which she views as a medium for exploring spatial issues. Her conclusion was that “while eating is very simple, everyday, and ordinary, cooking together opens the door to playing, experimenting, and the extraordinary.” With the goal of creating a different format each time, Blanka Major uses food to understand a place, relying on its resources. In Bordeaux, she drew on the extensive network established by Vivants. Believing that the landscape around us is shaped by both architecture and agriculture, the founders of Vivants created a region-wide project to seek out producers who can showcase the local terroir. In their quest to rediscover agro-ecological connections, they rely on the surrounding farming community to supply their restaurant, Casa Gaïa, as well as the museum café.
After a month of development and two days of execution, guests were invited to create a “final self-portrait” of the territory. Those who wished to do so picked ingredient cards and worked on a 12-meter-long table covered with a pristine tablecloth. Layered on top of the fresh cheese, in several stages, cooked vegetables, condiments, and falafels were arranged to form a landscape good enough to eat. According to Blanka Major, giving instructions allows visitors “to feel at ease, to communicate more easily with their partners through action. And also to bring some order to the chaos!” It is not so much the final result that interests the architect as the experimentation itself, infused with his favorite colors: black—uncommon in the kitchen, but present here in the form of bread infused with charcoal—blue, derived from spirulina, and vibrant pink, obtained from beets. At the end of the performance, those who had lingered took part in “unfolding the tablecloth,” which was then hung to dry and displayed in the main gallery. The final two days thus preserved the memory of a fleeting landscape, enjoyed in a convivial atmosphere, and the mingled scents of the tablecloth completed the self-portrait of the territory during the exhibition’s closing days.
Blanka Major, an architect based in Zurich, works both independently and collaboratively. Her research interests revolve around architecture, cooking, publishing, writing, and teaching. She is a LINA 2025 fellow. This project is part of the Ad Hoc Residencies program organized with LINA European Architecture Platform. Co-funded by the European Union. A performance made possible by Pro Helvetia.