Angela Dorrer at BUS (1040 Queen West) to Nov 3. 416-537-8827. Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
When you’re a kid, the cookie you dropped on the floor is just as yummy as the one straight out of the package. As an adult, you learn about germs, and soon you’re refusing to eat a cookie just because it was shaped in some stranger’s mouth.In recent weeks, talented German artist Angela Dorrer has been on an art-marketing blitz that makes the Keebler elves look like a bunch of amateurs. She took her odd cookie-making process on a tour of T.O., with performances and installations at four separate locations.
It kicked off with a weekend chewing party at 1080 Bus, where random people off the street were invited to shape dough in their mouths. I bit mine in two in a fit of excitement, placed the halves on a cookie sheet and signed my work.
Previously formed cookies had been baked and were available for consumption, but the germ-fearing adult had dominated the cookie-loving kid. Few people seemed to be eating the cookies, as the plate was still quite full.
Last week a Cookie Box was placed at both YYZ Artists’ Outlet and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. Each box resembled a bulk bin full of cookies, with pens and paper. Rather than writing down a bin number, you were supposed to eat a cookie and record thoughts about the project. By mid-week there were three thoughts: “Weird idea,” “Giggle giggle” and “Are theses cookies vegan?” — and a lot of cookies left.
The final part of the tour is still up at BUSgallery. It’s a large photo of Dorrer holding a tray of mouth-formed cookies. “Do you want a Cookie?” she asks. On a video screen is footage of a previous party where well-heeled Germans seem to eat the edible dental impressions without hesitation.
Maybe we Canadians would have warmed to the idea if she’d served her mouth-shaped cookies with some tea to wash them down.thmoas@sympatico.ca
