Corrosion Kitchen : Residency at Centro Negra, Blanca, Spain
Corrosion Kitchen was established by Lydia James Thompson and Phoebe Van Essche during their 3-month residency at AADK Spain/Centro Negra, in response to the program’s open call with the theme body, territory, spatiality. Corrosion Kitchen is a laboratory for experimental, site-specific research and material exploration.
March 2022
During our first month in Blanca we explored the town and surrounding landscapes, collecting discarded/leftover materials and objects on our adventures. We decontextualized, studied, and curated these artifacts to create a dialogue between ourselves, the objects, and the place. For Open Studios at the end of the month, we chose to present most of the findings categorically and without manipulation, inviting viewers to imagine the objects’ pasts and futures. Warped surfaces hang in the center of the studio, made from recycled paper in a labor-intensive process of dis- and re-assemblage. An altarpiece (resting on a headboard found in a dumpster) displays a composition of natural and manufactured materials which draws attention to their formal relationships while evoking real and imagined ecosystems.
April
In April, Corrosion Kitchen’s research focused on the domestic kitchen as bio-geo-chemical assemblage, and as a site of labor and gendered performance. We worked with natural textile dyes, food and fabric: where bodies touch local and distant landscapes everyday. We foraged edible plants and dyestuffs around Blanca, taking advantage of the abundant rain, which resulted in an abundance of “spontaneous plants” (commonly known as weeds). The field guide (below) shares some of our findings.
The photos directly above are textiles dyed yellow with pomegranate skins (leftover on/around trees from the fall) then “rust-printed” around Centro Negra. Tannins from the pomegranate skins interact with iron to make black.
Below, photos from our April Open Studios display, which included: experiments with natural dyes (foraged pomegranate rind, onion skins, rust); Paper made from cattail+reed fluff; a surprise drop-cloth process-print; 40 hr sourdough focaccia with foraged wood sorrel + wild mustard pesto; butter cookies turned green with weeds, dipped in fig leaf icing; homemade rosemary-thyme limoncello.
May - Casa JazMín
In May, Corrosion Kitchen decided to make Casa Jazmín, a (c. 200 year old) poulterer house adjacent to Centro Negra, our project. We cleaned, cleared out, fixed, organized, and occupied the space. We considered the performative process “maintenance art,” using our labor as a vessel to study the space and the labor embedded in it. In its profound simplicity, Casa Jazmín came to embody our passion for places that perform as living organisms, ecological integration, material sourcing, and adaptive re-use.
For Open Studios, we made lists on homemade paper (below) of things for visitors to find throughout the house, drawing attention to our favorite details. Of course, we also served homemade limoncello!
