Commonwealth and Council
Porridge and Puffs
Filipinotown, Los Angeles, CA, USA
@kibumk
Posted to Instagram on May 27, 2020: "Perhaps too soon or maybe all the more relevant, Felix Gonzalez-Torres once spoke about wanting his work to operate like a virus, infiltrating systems/institutions of power.
There are a thousand manifestations of “Untitled (Fortune Cookie Corner),” 1990 all around the world now, spreading, being shared, lying dormant in stasis marking our isolation. The ideas of contagion and finding space, opportunities for intimacy and connection that FGT explored take on acute resonance today.
We wondered how the piece might be able to touch people at this time, whom we’d like to encounter these moments of communion. Getting a fortune cookie at an Asian restaurant might read literal, but it felt important in this moment. Chef Minh Phan opened Porridge and Puffs in Filipinotown, committed to serving the community. And of course, the food is delicious. Beatriz Cortez and Kang Seung Lee gathered messages from their artist community for their piece “Desires from the Future Perfect” (now on view in Korea) and shared some to be fortunes in the cookies.
When the future comes... on the other side of the current epidemic, we hope it is one we build together. A future that is radical, queer, equitable. A future that Larry Kramer’s rage exhorted us to fight for. A future where the state does not deploy its power to kill black men senselessly.
Hope you can go by Porridge and Puffs and get some nourishing food, a fortune cookie. Active Cultures, Porridge and Puffs, Beatriz and Kang all collaborated in communal spirit to make this site come to life #FGTš„ exhibition"