Engages,
Alisa Tanaka King Future Origins of Community and Universal Sustainability (F.O.C.U.S)
Dates: 7, 8, 9, 10 April 2021
You are invited to the dinner table, but this is not a dinner party.
This is an invitation to be part of a transient community.
A conversation.
A journey of food, a sharing of stories, a connecting of dots.
F.O.C.U.S is a conceptual art project that takes place all over the world, inviting people to share in a dining and conversation experience that embodies social creative practice and sustainability.
In form, the dining experience uses traditional Japanese haute cuisine KAISEKI as it’s foundation. KAISEKI is a cooking art form that marry taste, texture, appearance in a specific sequence of small dishes. Local and seasonal ingredients are showcased, with great importance placed on balance and dining experience. In order to create these events, Alisa spends time with local community prior to the dinner, often liaising with indigenous communities where possible, and working directly with local producers to source ingredients.
An audience of nine guests are invited to the table, and the conversation is guided by the host, Alisa, who shares stories, poses questions, and invites responses from the diners.
- RSVP here
For The Love of Leftovers, Saturday 10 April 3.30pm
For The Love of Leftovers is the epilogue to F.O.C.U.S. In the interest of keeping a waste-free practice, Alisa cooks up the leftover ingredients from the F.O.C.U.S and hosts an open event for the local community, promoting sustainability and communal eating.
Alisa Tanaka-King is a Melbourne based artist, whose practice focuses on sustainability, community and the handmade. Her arts practice is an experimental exploration combining installation and the drawn line, performance, storytelling, and food, and is underpinned by a strong foundation in traditional techniques and skills. Her work is often conceptual, and explores the audience experience by creating immersive and interactive spaces.
Thematically, she is interested in archiving untold stories, documenting humans’ relationships to the natural world and environment, and how arts practices can be used as an innovative and alternative form of communication. Some of her most influential experiences have been a series of residencies and research trips that have cemented her interest in a socially engaged practice, using art to better understand, communicate and document global issues.
Alisa’s explores artistic documentation and archiving practices, taking the core principles of illustration, and adapting and reimagining them in a contemporary and conceptual manner. Her multidisciplinary practice continues to illustrate, document and instigate conversation around pressing global issues including climate change, globalisation, and human rights.
To compliment her solo practice, Alisa coordinates the Community Arts Program at Ballarat Community Health in Victoria. Here Alisa curates and runs art and storytelling workshops, education programs, and creative support groups.
Alisa has exhibited in Japan, Finland, Belgium, Norway, the UK, and across Australia. She has been a grant recipient of Australia Council for the Arts, Creative Victoria, and local council grants. Alisa is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) having completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (printmaking) and Graduate Diploma of Performance Creation (animateuring).