Culinary Imagine – Nation

photograhic exhibition in Leuven (Belgium), 3 March - 3 April 2023

Posted on: 24 February 2023

Share

images in this post from exhibition’s promotional materials, heritage photograph therein by TopFoto, Credit: John Topham/ TopFoto. 1951.

Culinary Imagine – Nation is the final outcome of a multifaceted action, following on work with a student group of KU Leuven Cultural Studies in collaboration with the Centre for Agricultural History (CAG) in Leuven: the theme on food culture is par excellence a subject that leans itself to Citizen Science initiatives. The activities include a physical exhibition and a seminar, organized at KU Leuven.

The exhibition is on display at KU Leuven University Library for a month, opening on 3 March 2023. The exhibition is organized by KU Leuven with collaboration and support of TopFoto UK, Photoconsortium, CAG, Roger Viollet of Paris, and is linked to the project CitizenHeritage.

“Culinary Imagine – Nation” explores the building of a French gastronomic identity through the lens of images and material culture spanning from the end of the 19th century to today. Focusing on four inter-related themes, savoir-faire, terroir, patrimoine culinaire, and francité, this exhibition examines aspects of nation-building rooted in food products and practices.

From showcasing the economic and cultural role of local products, to highlighting the significance of ‘intangible’ concepts such as savoir-faire, to tracing the influence of politics and policies in shaping global trends in culinary heritage, in this exhibition we question the construction of heritage, the relativity of history, and the concept of authenticity with an eye towards uprooting national narratives and looking towards hybridity. Among the reproductions, we are pleased to include exceptional works such as the photographs of Harold Chapman, Janine Niepce, Jean Roubier, and Jacques Boyer (to name a few), alongside collections from the National Library of France (BnF).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Related Articles

Europeana Photography at Europeana AGM in Madrid
Europeana Photography cannot miss this event, and will be presented by the project coordinator Fred Truyen (KU Leuven) in a Ignite Talk, entitled "All our memories”: sharing photographic heritage through Europeana,
Europeana Photography @ Digital Humanities Congress
Digital humanities is understood by Sheffield University to mean the use of technology within arts, heritage and humanities research as both a method of inquiry and a means of dissemination. As such, Europeana Photography is a very concrete example of the use of technologies to enhance cultural heritage.
Citizen Science in Cultural Heritage: practices and digital technologies
Athens, 29 May 2023 Hybrid event at the National Technical University of Athens Library and online h. 14-17 CEST The event organized by the National Technical University of Athens, explores good practices of citizen science in cultural heritage and the use of digital technologies in this context. It is an hybrid event organized in Athens and online. As part of CitizenHeritage, this workshop will explore citizen science practices in cultural heritage, drawing from various successf...
CitizenHeritage: can citizen science contribute to the Cultural Heritage challenges of today?
Hosted by KU Leuven and including hybrid and in-person activities, this multiplier event of the CitizenHeritage project takes place at the Irish College in Leuven. A first part will be dedicated to frontal presentations from CitizenHeritage partners to share with the audience recent research on participatory approaches in cultural heritage and stories from the project’s journey so far. A Workshop for students and other participants will follow in the afternoon.    ...