The museum that’s going out of its way to make you queasy

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories

Older readers may remember the days of mediocre meals served up in museum cafes. But in recent decades, institutions have gone to great lengths to improve their edible offerings. One ‘museum’ in Sweden, however, has devoted itself to doing precisely the opposite.

The Disgusting Food Museum in Malmo, which opens on 31 October, will go out of its way to live up to its name, even issuing tickets that double up as sick bags. ‘I want people to question what they find disgusting and realise that disgust is always in the eye of the beholder,’ founder Samuel West tells the Washington Post.

Noble as the sentiment may be, the museum boasts a number of exhibits that even the most dedicated omnivore would hesitate to consume. The display reportedly includes treats such as duck embryos, cod sperm and – possibly most revolting of all – ‘Jell-O salad with pasta in it’. Erm, yum.

In other news…

Think the art world is a bit woolly? You don’t know the half of it. Greek artist Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou has made an installation entitled ‘#TextMe_FluffyLibrary’, in which an entire floor of the Atopos Contemporary Visual Culture premises has be taken over by a ‘fuzzy hybrid creature’ that eats books. Images suggest that said ‘creature’ consists of a vast, carpet-like expanse spread throughout the space, with which visitors are encouraged to interact. Some shelf life.

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Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project, his Turbine Hall commission for Tate Modern in 2003, is often regarded as one of the great art events of the 21st century. Many visitors were deeply moved by the installation ­– and some more so than others. ‘When I was at the Venice Biennale last year a Bulgarian couple who were both architects told me how they’d been to see it in London and it inspired them,’ Eliasson tells the Guardian. ‘Then they introduced their 10-year-old daughter: “And this is Tate”.’

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And finally, whatever your stance on Banksy’s self-destructive turn at Sotheby’s last week, the stunt has proved worth its weight in gold when it comes to Internet memes…

 

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