Picknicken

Eating is a social activity. What do you do when you are by yourself in the evening? Do you set the table and cook a delicious meal for yourself? Or do you order some comfort food through an app, which you eat in front of the TV? Whenever people eat by themselves, people tend to go for the second option.

Going out to a restaurant by yourself sounds even more daunting. It does, however, have some advantages. Being alone leads to more creativity and concentration. Knowing you’re fine without anyone else can give a lot of self-confidence. Whenever you eat by yourself at home, usually you shove the food down while watching at a screen. In a restaurant there are no distractions, so you can focus on the dish in front of you. Research shows that eating alone in restaurants has become more popular. Over the past couple of years the number of people that went out by themselves has gone up with 62%.

This work is about the social aspect of food. Eating connects. Rarely do interesting conversations occur between strangers waiting in a awaiting room. But when people who have never met, share a meal together, striking up a conversation becomes much easier.

This video is the result of a series of performances, organized by artist Monique Broekman in a abandoned factory in Den Bosch. A big hall was transformed into a forest in which Monique organized picknicks. People from different backgrounds, that shared a profession or a hobby, were invited to talk about a theme that connected them.

The performance initially was about the subject that was talked about. Politicians talked about public art in their cities for example. These picknicks were filmed so the conversations could be listened to afterwards. This video emerged from those recordings. Monique noticed that the interaction between the persons was almost just as interesting as the conversation itself. From their body language you can already notice a lot; are the people at ease? Do they agree? Who is in charge?

Whenever we talk, 70% of our communication is non-verbal. Voice, posture, gestures and facial expressions often say more than actual words. A lot is to be seen from a conversation you cannot overhear.

One group is very recognizable; the naturists. They talked about what it meant to be naked. The other groups are a lot less clear. There was a group of politicians, a group of businessmen and a diverse group of people that all did something in sustainability. Do you recognize the groups?

A meal with strangers can be healthy, even if all the food has been deep-fried. It’s because a conversation with someone you don’t know can make you happy, according to some researchers. You feel connected and stress levels are lowered.

Monique calls this artwork a moving painting. There is no sound and the frame is still, all the movement happens within. The composition is constantly moving, for example when someone picks up a piece of food. This is also where the name picknick is derived from. In the French word pique nique, ‘pique’ means to pick and ‘nique’ means a small bite.

The work is inspired on a famous picknick: the painting Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe by Édouard Manet. The work by the famous impressionist painter caused a lot of debate when it was first shown. The naked woman in between two dressed men was unheard of. Maybe it explains why there is a group of naturists in the video. Do you think the other three groups resemble the other three figures in the painting?

Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, Edouard Manet, 1863