frieze // Postcard from Lima
In a city where food is top of the cultural pile, several small alternative spaces are leading the emergence of a vibrant contemporary art scene
As soon as we had landed in Lima, the city was abuzz with talk about the fair. There were arguments over which was this year’s best stand; complaints about crowds and entrance fees; and scandal sparked by a critic’s declaration, in El País, that the whole affaire was ‘over’.
This was not an art fair but Mistura, the largest culinary festival in Latin America which annually attracts nearly 400,000 visitors to sample regional and haute Andean cuisine. In general, Peru is deeply divided by class, race and other legacies of colonialism, but the kitchen is a space where these differences can be bridged. The fusion that characterizes Peruvian food is a source of national pride.
image credit: Fátima Rodrigo, Otras Tardes, 2015. Courtesy: Garúa, Lima; photograph: Pablo Hare
