A multi-sensorial live performance: part-ritual, part-celebration, part-installation, and part-dinner by critically acclaimed multidisciplinary artist duo Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya. Commissioned by HERE and co-produced with LEIMAY, A Meal explores our deep connection with food—where it comes from, what we eat, and who we share it with.
The 2024 premiere featured a two and a half hour immersive experience through a series of vignettes across HERE’s building, where audiences partook in the act of eating together, witnessing performances by mythological creatures, and encountering offering songs and evocative sound/video movement installations. The layered work featured handmade organic tableware, crafted artifacts, and evocative images and dances, all resonating with our post-industrial relationship with food and the Japanese and Colombian roots of the co-creators.
For A Meal, Ximena and Shige brought together new and long-time collaborators to their LEIMAY Ensemble, alongside guest performers, composers, and vocalists. A Meal consists of multiple years of Encounters, from installation performance to a film to community programs.
“…an innovative theatrical event that slows it down and transports you to another plane of dreamlike existence and meditative sensibilities beyond the boundaries of time and place.” – Deb Miller, DC Theater Arts (2024)
“Throughout, every detail has been lovingly handcrafted, from the gorgeous, artful costumes to the bespoke dinnerware — all of which present a beguiling vision of merged cultures.” – Interludes (2024)
“At its heart, A Meal builds community around the act of eating; at the conclusion, you may find yourself hugging people who are no longer strangers and exchanging phone numbers. It’s not a passive experience; to get the most out of it, you need to become a participant, just like life itself.” – Mark Rifkin, (2024)
- All
- Ceramic
- conectom with LEIMAY
- Dance/Theater/Opera
- Film/Video
- Installation
- Installation Performance
- LEIMAY Ensemble
- Performance
- Wearable Sculpture/Usable Art