During the weekend of the 22nd of October 2021, ARTisBOOK was transformed into a gathering place where tastes, smells, cooking sounds, recipe books, stories, and memories around food were the center of the conversation. 

KOOK ME invited participants to join in a collective flux of making, taking the artistic practice of Dutch artist Elles Kiers (Emmen, 1969) as the starting point and inspiration to re-vist and re-make recipes that once were part of her projects and have been now included in LEES ME. 

LEES ME is a project in the form of a book that has been developed during this year by a group of people who have been closely connected and collaborated with Elles herself during the last decades. When unfolding the book, consisting of idea(l)s, events, happenings, and projects facilitated by Elles in collaboration with many others, one will find different parts to it, for instance, a wooden cutting board that has been once part of a previous project, inviting us now to make use of it with the recipes present in PROEF ME.

The manifestation felt like a celebration: on one hand, this was the official presentation of LEES ME within a cultural framework; on the other, it was a commemoration to togetherness, something intrinsic within the practice of Elles as well as something which in the last period of time has been fluctuating and changing its forms for all and each of us.

From cutting to peeling, from steering to washing, from boiling to filtering; everyone who stepped into the space was warmly welcomed and offered to partake in any of the activities which were continuously happening. On Saturday morning we visited Tuin in de Stad where we collected some herbs, bread and garlic for recipes we did during that day, followed by a short visit to a local farm where we got 4 liters of milk to continue doing cheese and butter the next morning.

Each day concluded with a shared meal, which led us to talk and discuss topics related to cultural differences, education, eating, and living habits; as well as wondering whether we need a new social cookbook and how would this look and be.

The pictures below give an impression of the happenings during the weekend and have been taken by Henry Alles, Hannegijs Jonker, Marinus Augustijn, and ARTisBOOK. Some people joined online, hence the screenshots!