Blending in: The Immaterial Art of Bobby Baker's Culinary Events

Abstract

Through her performance events, Bobby Baker presents us with a genealogy of everyday tactics and surrogate practices that reveal creative techniques for daily living. Whether a recipe for relieving anger (throwing a ripe pear against a cupboard door) or instructions on the art of roaming (a complex dance of several activities performed while talking, such as sorting out some notices, throwing bits of paper towards the bin under the sink [Baker 199I:n.p.]), Baker cultivates their immaterial significance. With skilled deliberation she uncovers the invisible, unacknowledged chores of motherhood and domestic life, which, unfinanced and disrespected, daily threaten to erode identity. By choosing to investigate these often solitary pursuits within the parameters of a performance, her scrutiny celebrates and valorizes the skills involved. Historically, these practices (or wisdoms), like the saws of so-called old wives tales, have been disregarded, considered inadequate for official discourses. Baker, while celebrating the creative potential of these practices, also capitalizes upon the blind spots of cultural ideologies. Apparently acquiescing to the repressive stereotypes proliferated within misogynistic culture-by identifying herself as a mother/housewife and discussing shopping and cooking-she simultaneously undermines them by contravening their limits. Employing a peculiarly British gamut of emotions-reticence, irony, and embarassment-she concocts theatrical images that resonate with unspoken desires and frustrations. In keeping with its character, her performances have appeared in unexpected places-including other peoples' kitchens and her own home.