Date | 8 June 2025 |
Venue | The Kitchen / Central Location |
The Dinner Party
Larissa Tikimbassi (CH)
The Dinner Party is an artistic and performative installation that pays tribute to Black multimedia artists through a dinner gathering. Its title echoes Judy Chicago’s iconic 1979 work created for the Brooklyn Museum. Conceived as a tribute to women throughout history, Chicago’s installation imagined a fictional banquet bringing together 999 female figures who shaped Western culture. Yet, with the exception of Sojourner Truth, no Black woman was included. This absence becomes a creative opportunity: one to reimagine an installation where artists of African descent are invited to share a meal. Much like Chicago’s work, this project raises a fundamental question: Which artists are considered historical subjects?
The table, a central element in the original installation, is here reinterpreted in the form of a quilt. This choice references the role of textile archiving—used notably by artists such as Faith Ringgold—and highlights the importance of this medium in transmitting cultural memory.
Integrated into the dinner, the quilt later becomes a witness to the event. Its delayed exhibition will allow a broader audience to access the experience lived during The Dinner Party. The aim is to highlight the notion of audience in two distinct forms: that of the dinner, composed of diasporic artists who, within the Swiss art scene, explore culinary vocabulary through various forms (texts, installations, films, painting, photography, hosting); and that of the audience who, later, will encounter this experience through the exhibition of the Quilt.
The Dinner Party is an exclusive event open only to the invited artists:
Cassiane c. pfund / Magia & Maldição, an anti-recipe
Diambe / Dangbé
Gemma Ushengewe / Le hérisson noir
Hirma Ndayiziga / eatwithhirmies
Jessy Razafimandimby / Droit de Visite de Digestion
Keiran Aimée Chapatte / Miamcredi
Monika Emmanuelle Kazi / A Home Care – Machine Learning
Tara Mabiala / Sweet Chili of Mine
Tanya Moyo / Kitchensprosper
Yann Stéphane Bisso / Cooking Mama
Additional contributors:
Food: Gloria Kabe
Quilt: Rafael Kouto
Embroidery: Sofia Clementina Hosszufalussy
Curator: Larissa Tiki Mbassi
Larissa Tiki Mbassi (CH) is a curator based in Zurich and a PhD candidate affiliated with the Departments of History and Heritage Studies at the Universities of Fribourg and Vienna. Her research explores the historical connections between so-called colonial monuments, public space, and Afro-diasporic activism in the city of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). She examines how representations of Blackness and the construction of public space shape and influence one another. Her approach also investigates everyday memorial practices, with a particular focus on embodied knowledge in the body and food as active vectors of memory transmission.
Rafael Kouto (CH/TG), designer suisse d’origine togolaise basé entre Lausanne, Zurich et Venise, est directeur créatif, designer de mode et textile, et chercheur spécialisé dans l’upcycling et les stratégies durables, avec un intérêt pour l’open source et l’artisanat. Diplômé en design de mode à la FHNW-HGK de Bâle et au Sandberg Institut d’Amsterdam, il a travaillé pour Alexander McQueen, Margiela, Carven et Ethical Fashion Initiative. En 2017, il fonde sa marque d’upcycling couture, où il développe des stratégies, collaborations et projets autour du réemploi de matériaux. Il enseigne à l’IUAV de Venise et anime des ateliers sur l’upcycling. Lors de résidences à TaDA, l’Istituto Svizzero, Lottozero et VU.CH, il mène des projets participatifs autour de la durabilité, en lien avec les communautés locales. @rafaelkouto
Gloria Kabe is an Afro-vegan chef whose cuisine draws on international influences, shaped by her many travels from New York to Ghana, Mexico, Berlin, and Brazil. A self-taught cook, she offers a renewed, plant-based African gastronomy — a space of emotional resonance and a reflection of identity. Through her private dinners and pop-ups in cities like Dakar, Mexico City, and Salvador de Bahia, she creates generous culinary experiences that blend good food, nutrition, and wellness rituals. Her current project, Panaf, is a contemporary African restaurant concept set to launch at the Osaka World Expo in 2025. Determined to build her own legacy, Gloria Kabe celebrates the vibrant cultures that have moved her body and spirit — honoring relationships and the transformative power of food. @glory_kabe
Sofia Clementina Hosszufalussy (IT/HU) – Half Hungarian and half Italian, born in Italy (Como) and trained as an architect (Milan, Brussels), Sofia Clementina Hosszufalussy moves between spatial design and art. Through her research and practice, she developed a specific tension and sensibility towards textiles art and hand-weaving, questioning and experimenting with tools and techniques, focusing on the spatial and physical implications textiles can generate. In 2022, after some important trainings and travels, Sofia Clementina founded SZOF, a project that combines craftsmanship, design, and art. @szof___ @clementinahosszufalussy
Photo Credits: Judi Chicago, Brooklyn Museum