The Open Kitchen | Free Activity | MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona

Thursday, March 9, 2023

In the MACBA Kitchen we have been swapping cocoa for carob for years, offering a creative response to the colonial, extractivist cacao tradition that is so deeply rooted in the customs of both Spain and Catalonia. Through three projects we retrace connections between localised and diasporic knowledge, and aim to shine a light on the darker side of the traditional cup of chocolate con churros.

During this session of The Open Kitchen, Ana Felicien will explore cacao’s colonial landscapes through the body and memory, attempting to understand the North-South relations currently plaguing us and how to reconfigure these borders in times of Afro-reparations and eco-social crisis.

Andrés Antebi, from the Observatori de la Vida Quotidiana, will use Batanga Chocolates to show us how Spanish and Catalan colonial domination and pillaging in Guinea led to the emergence of industries linked to cocoa and, at the same time, how campaigns distributing sticker books to children sought to justify this exploitation.

Yazel Parra and Patricia del Razo present Resonant Chocolate, a creative enquiry that sets chocolate against the backdrop of narratives excluded by the global cocoa trade. By incorporating son jarocho music, work songs and poems, they question the official version of cocoa’s colonial history while highlighting resonances with their lived experiences. They also explore the utility of cacao shells in different foodstuffs, such as teas, flour and granola.

Participants

Andrés Antebi ArnóAna FelicienPatricia del Razo MartínezMarina MonsonísYazel Parra Nahmens

With the support of

_{Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.}