Event 1: Collective Bread Diaries

MTurk + Printer

I attended the Collective Bread Diaries: A Taste of Protest on April 5th, 2018. The name of this event intrigued me because in my limited experience with art, I have not come across many projects on food. Also, along with most of the population, I enjoy eating bread. The exhibition was simple, elegant, and centered around the idea of bread. Haytham Navar is an Egyptian artist that conceptualized the idea of creating these Collective Bread Diaries. His Collective Bread Diaries is a collection of drawings of different types of bread. When I think of bread, my first association and idea of bread is that it is a delicious commodity and staple. As Haytham Navar started describing his project and inspiration, I began realizing how much more complex bread is. Haytham Navar described how part of his inspiration is cultural because in Egypt, a raised loaf of bread is a sign of protest. He creatively uses bread as a representation of protests (Bohm). 

An example of one of the many sketches
of bread in Haytham Nawar's book

Haytham Nawar's book

In addition to being a sign of protest, bread is a unifying item. Since bread is a commodity, virtually everyone eats bread- the common people eat bread and the ruling class eats bread. In addition to his unique portrayal and interpretation of bread, Haytham Navar bridges the gap between the two separate cultures of the literary intellectuals and scientists through his process of creating his artwork (Snow). Navar uses a sophisticated piece of technology called the MechanicalTurk to create his product. Navar accepts drawings of various types of bread from people across the globe, and then through an online platform called MTurk, Navar is able to print them out to create this collective diary. I originally thought that each type of bread was hand drawn by him, so it was a surprising to learn that the drawings were printed by a printer. I guess I should not have been too surprised, since with such advanced technology, digital reproductions virtually look the same as the actual drawing (Davis). 

    

Picture of me & artist Haytham Nawar 

 I would definitely recommend this event because it was a nice visual experience and it expanded my idea of bread. Since Haytham Navar was presenting his work, you had the opportunity to ask him questions about his project including his personal inspiration and ideas, and it is not often that you get to directly ask an artist about his work!

Sources:

Bohm, David. “On Creativity.” Leonardo, vol. 1, no. 2, 1968, pp. 137–149, www.jstor.org/stable/1571951. Accessed 18 April 2018.

Davis, Douglas. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995). Leonardo, vol 28, no. 5, 1995, pp. 381-386. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576221 Accessed 22 April 2018.

Snow, C.P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1961.