In La Ligue Gourmande Gronsdahl’s fictional museum and absurdist supper club collide in this exhibition which invites reflection on the construction and glorification of Canada’s official narratives and the mechanisms that inscribe them.
Gronsdahl situates his food performances in the context of the fictional, “Saskatchewan Maritime Museum,” a project he has been developing and exhibiting since 2017. The absurd conceit of a maritime museum in landlocked Saskatchewan pokes fun at and deconstructs official histories of Canadian nation-building, and in Gronsdahl’s words, seeks to “right the official record through a bit of mischief and humour.” Gronsdahl’s exhibition displays a collection of fictional, prop-like, artifacts which together construct absurd narratives. By adopting conventions of museum display Gronsdahl questions the structures that convey official histories.
Gronsdahl’s work turns an ethnographic eye on the conventions of social dining, particularly referencing French gastronomical supper clubs through interactive food performances. Inspired by decades of cooking and running restaurants, Gronsdahl’s work takes up conventions of the dinner party as a way to explore social conventions and the experience of direct exchange involved in making, serving and sharing a meal.
