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Sant Stomak
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Juli Soler and Ferran Adrià’s friendship with Antonio Miralda led them to invite the artist to create a work to enliven in the restaurant’s storeroom.
The result was this art installation, which turned the storeroom at elBullirestaurante into a pantry chapel dedicated to Saint Stomak, a tribute that pay shomage to the link that between the storeroom and the legendary elBulli kitchen.
The result was this art installation, which turned the storeroom at elBullirestaurante into a pantry chapel dedicated to Saint Stomak, a tribute that pay shomage to the link that between the storeroom and the legendary elBulli kitchen.
Sant Stomak
The concept and figure of Saint Stomak was created in 2009 by FoodCultura to mark the annual celebration of World Food Day, which was established on 16 October by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1979.
The aim of this celebration is to participate in the global debate on food and explore the contradictions surrounding it: hunger versus obesity, malnutrition versus processed food, tourism versus forced migration, among others.
The aim of this celebration is to participate in the global debate on food and explore the contradictions surrounding it: hunger versus obesity, malnutrition versus processed food, tourism versus forced migration, among others.
The three areas of the pantry chapel
The passage or space for reflection, preparation and access: conceived as a ’passageway’, where the B&W WC and Cycle Door interventions propose a reflection and dialogue between the symbolism of colour and the digestive system.
The FoodCultura Museum space: comprising the pantry, cold room, display cases and wine cellar, a ritual space in honour of Juli Soler, where The Tongue is exhibited. Seen from the perspective of FoodCultura, it is a concept that refers to the complex web of practices and experiences, flavours and knowledge, values and beliefs, techniques and representations.
Finally, at the end of the space is the Saint Stomak chapel: in the centre of the turquoise and magenta semicircular apse is a cupboard-cum-shrine, a receptacle for offerings created from the image of a brass Neapolitan ex-voto that is kept in the vaults of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, in Marseille. It is a ritual icon born from the need to reflect on food culture and offerings, using a language typical of artistic practice.
The FoodCultura Museum space: comprising the pantry, cold room, display cases and wine cellar, a ritual space in honour of Juli Soler, where The Tongue is exhibited. Seen from the perspective of FoodCultura, it is a concept that refers to the complex web of practices and experiences, flavours and knowledge, values and beliefs, techniques and representations.
Finally, at the end of the space is the Saint Stomak chapel: in the centre of the turquoise and magenta semicircular apse is a cupboard-cum-shrine, a receptacle for offerings created from the image of a brass Neapolitan ex-voto that is kept in the vaults of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations, in Marseille. It is a ritual icon born from the need to reflect on food culture and offerings, using a language typical of artistic practice.
Esquema de distribució realitzat per Antoni Miralda (2020)
Saint Stomak’s soundtrack
It was created by Asim Singh Halwarvi and Oriol Marès, in collaboration with Damien Bazin.
The first area welcomes us to Miralda’s work and places it in context. The sounds of Cala Montjoi are mainly used, helping us to understand elBulli, with its unchanging, constant and tireless rhythm of Mediterranean culture.
The second area is the Gastric Broth, where The Tongue reminds us of the importance of the flavour of food, together with audible memories associated with the sense of taste and cooking.
The musical journey culminates in the chapel with ancestral sounds that evoke the idea of community and ritual. The music envelops the sacred artistic space as if it were a prayer.
The first area welcomes us to Miralda’s work and places it in context. The sounds of Cala Montjoi are mainly used, helping us to understand elBulli, with its unchanging, constant and tireless rhythm of Mediterranean culture.
The second area is the Gastric Broth, where The Tongue reminds us of the importance of the flavour of food, together with audible memories associated with the sense of taste and cooking.
The musical journey culminates in the chapel with ancestral sounds that evoke the idea of community and ritual. The music envelops the sacred artistic space as if it were a prayer.
The FoodCultura Museum’s display cases
Level 1. Frieze of glass wine jars and calabashes
Eleven glass wine jars of Catalan origin interpersed with nine calabashes (Crescentia cujete) from Mauretania. The idea for the upper frieze is to create a dialogue between the shapes, textures and rituals associated with two objects used to drink, process and store food in different social and cultural contexts.
Level 2. Pantry video
Poetic and anthropological visualisation of the symbolic foods in the pantry chapel, displayed on four screens. The first video represents an ‘ode to the cooking pot’, with ingredients that come from nature or the food industry or that have fallen from the heavens like manna. The second depicts certain staple foods (rice, potatoes, maize, wheat, beans, etc.) associated with survival, rites and the cycle of life. The third is an allegory of travelling, diversity and popular iconography. The lead role in the final video is played by the ingredients with a history associated with colonialism, economy and pleasure.
Level 3. Dishes, flavours and languages
Fourteen dishes exhibited at Expo 2000 Hannover, which form an itinerary through an atlas of taste: Beijing, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Havana, Istanbul, Marrakesh, Mexico City, Paris, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo. Each dish is a symbolic depiction of each city and is imprinted with a tongue, a map and condensed information on urban food culture.
Level 4. Soup tureens from the Sentimental Museum
Twelve soup tureens containing the memory of taste, diversity and ritual. Ten items from the FoodCultura archive and two from elBullifoundation.
Level 5. Energy drinks frieze
A frieze comprising 64 cans of energy drinks with the brands Cannabis, B52, Cocaine Cult and Superman, mimicking a barrage of mortar shells as an image of consumerism, globalisation and dependence.
Level 6. Els caganers
Sixty figurines* of Catalan folk art with origins from the tradition of the nativity scene, where a peasant was placed defecating. The line of caganers connects us with the Cycle Door and the term ‘digestion/evacuation’, as well as diversity, status and folk legends. The caganers are lined up in front of a long mirror at the back of the display case, which reads: ‘You are what you eat’ and ‘You eat what you are’.
*One of the Meninas by Velázquez, Batman, Civil Guard officer, Albert Einstein, Michael Jackson, a cosmonaut, the Statue of Liberty, a gargoyle from Notre Dame Cathedral, an archbishop, Pablo Picasso, the Pink Panther, Fidel Castro, Venus de Milo, Barack Obama, Superman, Osama bin Laden, anonymous, José María Aznar, Donald Trump, Princess Leia, a prisoner, The Thinker by Rodin, Napoleon Bonaparte, a snowman, Obelix, Marge Simpson, a hooded penitent, the Dalai Lama, Tintin, the Michelin Man, Marianne, Gala and Dalí, Spider-Man, a chef, @, Hello Kitty, traditional Catalan peasant with a basket of snails, Buddha, an angel, a Muslim, a scuba diver, one of Snow White’s dwarfs, Father Christmas/Santa Claus, the Pope, a dancer from Seville, a nurse, a man holding a mobile phone, a boy, a ghost, a bride, Ferran Adrià, Gaudí, a witch, the devil, a chaplain with a suitcase, a Euro, a black woman, a bullfighter, the Child Jesus, a Catalan police officer.
*One of the Meninas by Velázquez, Batman, Civil Guard officer, Albert Einstein, Michael Jackson, a cosmonaut, the Statue of Liberty, a gargoyle from Notre Dame Cathedral, an archbishop, Pablo Picasso, the Pink Panther, Fidel Castro, Venus de Milo, Barack Obama, Superman, Osama bin Laden, anonymous, José María Aznar, Donald Trump, Princess Leia, a prisoner, The Thinker by Rodin, Napoleon Bonaparte, a snowman, Obelix, Marge Simpson, a hooded penitent, the Dalai Lama, Tintin, the Michelin Man, Marianne, Gala and Dalí, Spider-Man, a chef, @, Hello Kitty, traditional Catalan peasant with a basket of snails, Buddha, an angel, a Muslim, a scuba diver, one of Snow White’s dwarfs, Father Christmas/Santa Claus, the Pope, a dancer from Seville, a nurse, a man holding a mobile phone, a boy, a ghost, a bride, Ferran Adrià, Gaudí, a witch, the devil, a chaplain with a suitcase, a Euro, a black woman, a bullfighter, the Child Jesus, a Catalan police officer.
The prayer to Saint Stomak
Patron saint of metabolic equilibrium,
Of agro-biodiversity,
Master of conviviality.
Be our guide in the world of food and
Its nutrients;
Make us meditate on the contradictions
Surrounding food in today’s society,
Agro-Culture devoured by consumerism,
Artificial nature and the diesel of deforestation.
Protect us fromFood insecurity,
Fast food and obesity.
Teach us to respect the flavour of memory,
Through knowledge and taste.
Be our pharmafood.
Of agro-biodiversity,
Master of conviviality.
Be our guide in the world of food and
Its nutrients;
Make us meditate on the contradictions
Surrounding food in today’s society,
Agro-Culture devoured by consumerism,
Artificial nature and the diesel of deforestation.
Protect us fromFood insecurity,
Fast food and obesity.
Teach us to respect the flavour of memory,
Through knowledge and taste.
Be our pharmafood.
About FoodCultura
FoodCultura is a unique, interdisciplinary, not-for-profit cultural organisation. It has an open structure or platform that serves to present and rethink the concept of food culture, not only from the nutritional perspective, but also from those of artistic practice and anthropological research.
It is an ongoing project begun by the Catalan artist Antoni Miralda with the design of the Food Pavilion for Expo 2000 in Hannover. This pavilion was dedicated to food culture and its links to science, ritual, technology, art and tradition. In 2003, with Miralda and the chef Montse Guillén as representatives, FoodCultura was turned into an association; the present FoodCultura private foundation was created in 2007.
The FoodCultura concept explores topics related to human identities, universal rituals, relationships with indigenous memories, the processes of racial blending, strategies for preservation and cohesion, vehicles for passing on or undermining traditions, and contemporary social practices. In this sense, food is perhaps the first, and most essential, element for community cohesion, as it reflects social, economic and ideological conditioning, while giving them a new meaning.
FoodCultura is a space dedicated to communication, research and the comprehensive history of food, customs, cultural experiences and art. It is an initiative to create an international network for collaboration and action that connects individuals and organisations to carry out projects in diverse communities.
It is an ongoing project begun by the Catalan artist Antoni Miralda with the design of the Food Pavilion for Expo 2000 in Hannover. This pavilion was dedicated to food culture and its links to science, ritual, technology, art and tradition. In 2003, with Miralda and the chef Montse Guillén as representatives, FoodCultura was turned into an association; the present FoodCultura private foundation was created in 2007.
The FoodCultura concept explores topics related to human identities, universal rituals, relationships with indigenous memories, the processes of racial blending, strategies for preservation and cohesion, vehicles for passing on or undermining traditions, and contemporary social practices. In this sense, food is perhaps the first, and most essential, element for community cohesion, as it reflects social, economic and ideological conditioning, while giving them a new meaning.
FoodCultura is a space dedicated to communication, research and the comprehensive history of food, customs, cultural experiences and art. It is an initiative to create an international network for collaboration and action that connects individuals and organisations to carry out projects in diverse communities.