Survival Japanese Cooking

Having moved to Montreal from Japan in the late 1990s, artist Shié Kasai has witnessed the growing popularity of sushi in Canada. Given the relative erosion of its exotic status in North America, sushi, now ubiquitous and considered fast food, represents the ideal lens through which to examine certain issues related to cultural authenticity, hybridity and orientalism. In an attempt to precisely define Canadian cuisine, Kasai concocted sushi using a mix of ingredients - hot dogs, fries, samosas - gathered from responses to a survey she conducted among Montrealers about their eating habits and favorite foods. The results of these culinary experiments served in part as inspiration for Kasai's Survival Japanese Cooking, a sprawling solo exhibition presented at MAI in 2008, featuring painting, video, animation, photography and sculpture.