The combination was obvious. A wobbly, deflating house; a blobby wall; and of course, fluorescent jelly. The self-proclaimed jellymonger duo of Bompas and Parr provided the accompaniment to the artist talks by Andrew Kudless and Alex Schweder at SFMoMA last night, in their US debut. Did they steal the show?
The combination was obvious. A wobbly, deflating house; a blobby wall; and of course, fluorescent jelly. The self-proclaimed jellymonger duo of Bompas and Parr provided the accompaniment to the artist talks by Andrew Kudless and Alex Schweder at SFMoMA last night. It was their US debut. Did they steal the show?

Kudless and Schweder were kind of at a disadvantage all along. They should have worn tuxes, to begin with. Henry Urbach, Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, tried to keep up but his suit looked quite frayed. (Sorry folks, I tried to bring a photographer but he came down with the flu). Kudless impressed the audience with his reinvention of Gaudiesque and Fissacquian (is that a word?) constructional methods to arrive at something distinctly meringue-like. Schweder talked about bodies that rot. But c'mon. Bompas and Parr already had the audience salivating with tantalizing invitation cards that promised an edible AND funereal display. There was talk of the San Francisco columbarium having inspired the night's creation. (These are definitely eschatological times; did you see what bldgblog has been showing lately?). By the way, SFMoMA has a flickr set of the prep work.

The moment came. People's brains were well-swollen. Much to process. It felt like a good time for sherry (and they delivered). The glow-in-the-dark gelatinous mini-urns, with what looked like Masonic symbol inscriptions, could not wait to be eaten. They quivered. A long pause followed. We all stared at them in disbelief. Phones came out. We paid last respects and dug in. Twitter went a bit haywire for a minute.

The taste? Quinine.


bottom image by Sarah Rich

Updted with new text and image. - ja