The Common Table

The Common Table (2023) is an audio installation exploring food traditions and how they are changing. The work comprises 11 interviews with people in Japan and Finland who work in or around the food industry. The installation was presented in a former store selling manju, a traditional Japanese confection.

In recent years my work has engaged with memory, and I found myself drawn to what was happening to family recipes — those usually passed down quietly from generation to generation. Where and how do we preserve and share food traditions in a digital age? And what new forms of those traditions are being created online? For the installation, we spoke with a wide range of people, from a Michelin-starred chef to a writer who creates recipe books based on dishes from video games.