Unplated: An Interview with Lucien Zayan
On Nafas, creativity, and bringing our big dreams to life
This conversation is part of the Unplated series, a collection of interviews with folks whose work intersects with food, but who work outside culinary spheres. My hope is that these conversations not only spark your curiosity, but help you think about how what you eat is connected to the world well beyond your plate.
Lucien Zayan is the director of The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, so named because the factory building in which it's housed once was home to the company that manufactured the famous invisible dog leash.
It's one of the most beautiful and welcoming art spaces I've been in: A reflection of Zayan's warm, welcoming personality and a career deeply rooted in both expertise and passion.
Recently, Zayan curated Nafas, part exhibition and part festival celebrating the intersection of food and art. As Reem Kassis says, “In Arabic, nafas is a breath or a spirit. But in the context of cooking, nafas is much more than that, it’s the energy some people possess that makes their meals not only good but exceptional”. Nafas reminds me somewhat of Korean son mat (hands taste): the unique qualities each of us imparts into every dish we cook.
Visiting the exhibit and meeting Zayan were big highlights of my recent book tour stop in NYC: The wide range of works on display, and the ways in which they were put in conversation, struck a chord with me, and I loved the juxtaposition of playful, lighthearted pieces alongside serious deep dives into identity, politics, and oppression. I can't say enough good things about it!
Zayan's work connects to his culinary interests in other ways: Some of his favorite food books are on display in the exhibit, and he hosts la Salle a Manger (SAM), a private dining room where Zayan whips up creative meals for his lucky guests.
Here, he talks with me about his inspiration behind Nafas, his own evolving culinary practice, and why we need to connect with as wide a variety of artworks as possible.
JS: To start, can you tell me a bit about yourself and your background? What inspired you to found Invisible Dog?
LZ: I was born in 1965, in Marseille (France), I moved to Paris when I was 19 and was lucky enough to find jobs in theaters. An immediate passion. I made my whole career in the administration of theater and opera. But at 42, I needed a change, a big one. The middle age crisis, you know. I decided to quit my job and quit France and move somewhere where I did not know anyone. New York appeared to be the perfect city: exciting, vast, far and… scary. In October 2008, I came here for three months. The first two months were difficult: recession, financial crisis, snow, and solitude. But the third month, I discovered the building of 51 Bergen Street, a beautiful 40.000 sq feet industrial building made of wood and bricks. I felt in love for the space. And even more, the building inspired me to create a multi-disciplinary arts center where all form of art live together, inspire each other, answer to one another. And here we are, 14 years later. I never left NYC, became American citizen and even … got married.
JS: I love the concept of Nafas, as a way of conceptualizing how we infuse a bit of ourselves into each dish we share. For the Nafas exhibition, how did you decide on this theme? What do you hope people will take away from it?
LZ: Nafas is very familiar word to me: my parents were born, grew up and lived in Egypt most of their life. I did live there myself to for several years too. My mom was a “serial cook”, really: she loved cooking for us, for everyone. Her tables were a huge feast for the eyes and for the taste. She was able to spend 3 or 4 days cooking nonstop just for my birthday party. So, when I started cooking, only four years ago, I always remembered that the most important ingredient in her cooking was the generosity. To make and to offer. This is what I wanted for this exhibition and festival. And all the artists who have accepted to participate, have also a large sense of generosity in their work. Generosity is also the essence of New York City. I like to say that this city is generous: she gives you back everything you give to her. (In French cities are feminine;-) Nafas is all about that. I wanted to re-create my mom’s table.
JS: You explore and share your love of cooking through SAM, and your creations all look incredible! How do you describe the intersection of food and creativity in your own life?
One day, my husband told me: your way to show love is to cook (I’m not a cuddler at all). I never thought that cooking would be a way to express myself personally and professionally. Cooking quickly became a real practice in addition to my job as artistic director of The Invisible Dog. Work and pleasure have always been very connected. At The Invisible Dog, I’m doing. At SAM, I’m making. A very important nuance in English that doesn’t exist in French. So, combining art and food, cooking and curating became natural. It’s part of my daily practice. They are now inseparable.
JS: I was struck by this quote, "The table becomes a gallery, the meals pieces of art, the dinner an exhibition, where guests bring their breath, their spirit, their own nafas." What is the importance of making visitors active participants in the exhibition, particularly in an exhibition about food?
LZ: That was actually one the very complicated part of curating an exhibition about food. How can I express the sensation we have when we eat through a piece of art? To be honest, I don’t have the recipe. It came organically, after conversation and exchanges with the artists and nights and days of reflection. And especially for a group show of 36 artists. Imagine a meal of 36 dishes. Separately they may be wonderful and delicious. But all put together on the same table, do they have the same taste? That’s where the role of the visitors becomes essential. They are the one who create a story between each piece. My job is to create a path from a piece to the other. And invite the audience to walk along it. Therefore, many pieces of the exhibition are illustrated with a story written by the artists. It helps to keep the curiosity. What will be the next story? What will be the next dish? It keeps visitors hungry!
JS: Nafas includes a whole festival of programming as well as the exhibition. How do programming and exhibits support each other at Invisible Dog?
LZ: Interaction between different forms of art is essential. They answer to each other, they create a creative competition. I like to “trap” my audience. They come for an opening party; they end up eating bugs. They come for a dance performance; they end up visiting an exhibition. They always have a surprise around the corner. The first event of the festival gathered 70 audience members. Today more than 200 are attending each event. The audience grows by the best tool: word of mouth. No pun intended.
JS: One thing I love about your work is that it's a reminder of the many, many ways foodmaking and sharing are creative, generative acts. How would you encourage readers to bring more creativity into their own home kitchens?
LZ: One of my favorite food authors is the Japanase poet, Ryoko Sekiguchi. She writes about the feelings of cooking, the feeling of eating. Before cooking it’s important to learn about the ingredients: where are they coming from, how they grow, why are they more red and green than blue. I learned cooking with books. Not recipe books, but books with stories of food. We are clearly entering in the new generation of cookbooks where storytelling, tradition and personal experience are much more important than the recipe itself. So, I would say read, read more and more. And the creativity and the inspiration will come by themselves in your cooking.
In short, find your Nafas.
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