The kitchen as a creative and social production space.
Founded by a collective of artists and cultural practitioners, the Frankfurt institution has been offering a lively platform for exchange and dialogue for almost twenty years, repeatedly at different locations and at various international festivals. It sees itself less as a conventional restaurant and more as a social meeting place in the high-rise canyons of the banking metropolis, where cooking, food and art are combined with good conversation. The artists Thomas Friemel and Michael Riedel founded freitagsküche in Frankfurt am Main. It all started with the desire to meet and exchange ideas informally, without a specific occasion and independent of exhibition openings or other events, not only among artists themselves, but also with other creative artists and free spirits – in keeping with the salon idea. The artists themselves catered for the physical well-being of the guests with the dishes they cooked. Today, Frankfurt’s art and culture scene continues to meet here, as well as international guests and travellers passing through. With its location in the railway station district, it is a meeting place for people from various cultural, economic and political milieus, a “communication factory” that invites guests to concerts, readings and exhibitions in an informal setting alongside table discussions. The two artists describe their idea as follows: “Usually, the process of cooking in a restaurant disappears into secrecy. In the freitagsküche, it is open. The artists of the evening inspire the kitchen with their own suggestions, thus building a bridge between art and cooking and providing the first topic of conversation along the way. “In view of current events and the demands of the present, places for exchange, formats for discourse and platforms for developing strategies for living together are more important than ever. The idea of the Friday Kitchen is an elementary one: A collective event where art and life form a culinary connection.
Marvel, Search, Recognise
An exploration of the paths between the sciences and the arts.
