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Comment Apr 12 2009 « | »
Last Supper at the David Roberts Foundation Two of our writers experience the Robert Ayala performance from either side of the forth wall

Louisa Elderton

Two of the Twelve Apostles have just sauntered past me, bare-foot and clad in super skinny jeans, for a quick smoke between courses. Their feet have just been cleansed in a bath of hot water, as servants have gently scrubbed their soles with fresh leaves of coriander.

The burning amber cherry of the cigarette has barely been aired and given enough time to quash the scent of crushed herbs, as another Apostle asks me if I know of anyone who has a blackberry charger. I observe the remaining holy figures seated around the dinning table: a peroxide blonde is unlacing her platform knee high biker boots as she too prepares to be cleansed and purified, and a resounding "cheers!" resonates through the room as four Apostles, grouped at the end of the long wooden table, really get into the spirit of things.

This is the scene at Raúl Ortega Ayala's Last Supper, a performative work that recreates the traditional Last Supper meal, which launches the David Roberts Art Foundation curators' series. Ortega Ayala has worked with the food historian Daniel Rogov to meticulously reproduce the original menu, and the artist assumes the role of provider as he prepares and cooks the food himself.

The table is adorned with four centrepieces composed of almonds, figs, grapes and apples. Galilean wine is poured from terracotta jugs, and the meal, originally intended to celebrate Passover, is served in two stages. To start, parsley is dipped into salted water to recall the tears shed by the slaves in Egypt, and "marror", a bitter herb, is eaten with "matzo" bread to recall the bitterness of slavery. Lamb is then served, which the nouvo disciples must eat without forks given that these were yet to be invented.

The scene is reminiscent of school dinner rather than holy supper, boys grouped at one end of the table and girls at the other, and the feeling of "uncanny time travel" that I am meant to be experiencing becomes somewhat clouded by the back drop of art crowd conversation. The camera filming the performance catches my eye. Its monitor casts a giant cross into the centre of the scene, and assumes the position of the absent Jesus. This iconography is powerful, still and calm, and immediately reconfigures the composition, adding an interesting air of divinity that is missing from the performance.

Whether this is a holy happening, or more of a sociological examination, the break down of the classical dining etiquette is compellingly light hearted, and more in the vein of David LaChapelle's Last Supper than that of the Big JC's - anyone got a light?

Agnieszka Gratza

Jesus or Judas? It's not often you have the chance to impersonate one of the twelve apostles or sample dishes that Christ and his chosen disciples would have consumed at the Last Supper. Being among the first on the scene, I am invited to take part in a performance by Mexican artist Raúl Ortega Ayala recreating the sacred repast for the launch of David Roberts Art Foundation curators' exhibition on migrant labour and service work.

I humbly opt for saint Bartholomew's seat at the far left end of the table. A felicitous choice, as it turns out, since this means I am the first to have my feet washed in warm and, as yet, fragrant water scented with fresh mint. You would not necessarily want to be the last apostle towards whom this courtesy is extended.

Drawing on the findings of food historian Daniel Rogov, the supper-cum-banquet is made up of symbolic dishes traditionally present in Passover meals, prepared and served by the artist himself who acts as master of ceremonies. We start by dipping bunches of parsley in salted water, representing the tears shed by the Hebrews in Egypt, before moving on to 'marror', grated horseradish mixed with various herbs to evoke the bitterness of exile, and unleavened flat bread ('matzo') commemorating the haste of the exodus leaving no time for baked bread to rise. The pièce de résistance is a leg of roast lamb, ceremoniously carved before us at the table.

The use of napkins, cutlery or nutcrackers was apparently unknown to Christ and his disciples. We eat with our fingers and set other inhibitions aside to do full justice to our meal and related libations. What with Galilean wine freely flowing (purchased on Stamford Hill), the momentous event that launched a thousand theological squabbles becomes an occasion for merrymaking.

The video of the performance, together with the remains of the supper, will be shown as part of 'At Your Service', curated by Cylena Simonds at The David Roberts Art Foundation, Fitzrovia, 17 April to 27 June. For details of the exhibition, click here.

Image: Raúl Ortega Ayala, Last Supper, 2009 Copyright the artist, courtesy Rokeby Photo: Thierry Bal

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