ALMA ZEVI is pleased to present Violet Dennison's American Dining vs Continental Dining (2019).

American Dining vs Continental Dining is part of a photographic diptych that was also made for the Kunsthall Stavanger exhibition. This piece depicts the rituals of eating, as prescribed by different countries, in a fictionalised documentation of a performance. The works are intentionally unclear and indecipherable, with parts of their accompanying text redacted.  The audience is left asking where the meaning of the work lies – is it in the physical content depicted, or in a conceptual reading of the work as symbolic of the intricate cultural differences Dennison observed first-hand between Europe and the US? The idea of codes connected with table manners feels antiquated; the artist appears to make fun of the snobbisms associated with ‘keeping up appearances’. By highlighting the differences in eating etiquettes, the artist transforms a social activity, one that is meant to feel natural - eating together - into a formulaic and almost scientific investigation.