kartotafel
2026
heichelheim, germany
Twenty guests were invited to share a meal: from Weimar and Heichelheim, urban and rural, local and international, inside and outside institutions. The table was built entirely from folding crates sourced on site. My role shifted from artist to host — a mediator between contrasts.
The meal unfolded in three courses, served across long sheets of paper unrolled down the table, echoing the conveyor belts of the facility around us. A continuous potato peel opened the meal as a place mat, referencing the potato's journey from the Andes to Europe and its forced adoption under Friedrich II's 1756 Kartoffelbefehl.
The main course arranged potatoes as "islands" on a paper map, just out of reach — eating required pulling the paper closer, a small negotiation over proximity and access.
Kartotafel asks what disappears when a shared meal becomes staged: a structure of negotiation, exchange, and collective decision. This is the invisible labour behind every Kartoffelfest. Food wasn't a backdrop here — it carried the conversation, and was the conversation.
This lunch-performance concludes a year-long exploration of the story of Heichelheimer Kartoffelfest. It honors its legacy while tracing the journey of the potato that brought people together, and reflects on how art can nurture connection in rural contexts.
Part of "Food Folk Festivals as Democratic Public Spaces". Funded by Demokratie-stärken Funds, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
In cooperation with Heichelheimer Kartoffel e.V. and Karland Agrarprodukte GmbH.
photos: peechana chayochaichana