Join artist Sandra Knecht for an intimate fine dining experience at Serpentine.
Join artist Sandra Knecht for an intimate fine dining experience at Serpentine—an extension of her solo exhibition Home is a Foreign Place at Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G, on view until 27 April 2025. Knecht, known for her ‘culinary gatherings with a critical edge’, as described by Pro Helvetia, transforms meals into profound acts of connection, community, and reflection. Working with chefs Michaela Frank and Vera Zimmermann and the team at Friends of Ours at The Magazine restaurant, this eight-course tasting meal will explore the intersections of taste, history and politics, while fostering a sense of shared belonging.
Knecht’s practice emerged from her background in social pedagogy, where she used cooking to connect with young people, many of whom were migrants navigating alienating environments. Through collaborative meals, she discovered the transformative power of food: creating a space for sharing stories, shifting perspectives, and building understanding. This ethos informs her art, which pushes the boundaries of taste and sustainability to challenge how we think about identity, history, and home. During the meal, Knecht will delve into her practice and her ongoing exploration of home as both a site of comfort and displacement.
The event also marks the UK launch of her book Home Is a Foreign Place, with a book signing and homemade sweets to follow. The book launch event at 7pm is free and open to all but booking is essential, audiences may book a spot here.
Understanding a meal as a journey, a performance as a homecoming—this event invites you to rethink who we are, and why we are the way we are.
Menu
The courses are outlined below. The courses are intimate portraits dedicated to artists who have deeply influenced her thinking, challenged her worldview, and reshaped her understanding of her own place within it.
Please note that due to the nature of the event we are unable to make any meal substitutions. If you would like more information about allergens, please contact [email protected].
Nan Goldin
Sugar, bitters
Johanna Lier
Borscht, apple pie
Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore
Shepherd’s pie
Zanele Muholi
Bourbon vanilla ice cream on volcanic stone
Frida Kahlo
Maíz azul, tarragon, lime, rooster, mole
Carson McCullers
Manhattan
PJ Harvey
Pears, spruce, lemon curd, butter crumble
Accompanied sweets
Gletchermilch Stängeli
BSL interpretation is available upon request. Please get in touch at [email protected] if you would like to request this.
Presented in collaboration with Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G.
Artist Biography
Sandra Knecht (b. 1968 in Zurich, lives and works in Buus/Canton of Baselland) researches the concept of “Heimat” (spiritual and physical home) – a concept which calls for ongoing revision and renegotiation – through the medium of art. For each individual, “Heimat” is as generically definable as it is unique. Biographical, geographical, socio-cultural and political aspects as well as relations between human beings and the natural world, are integral to the concept of Heimat, as “steeped” as it is in memory, perception, inner poise and outlook.
In her artistic practice, Knecht takes up and explores this concept of Heimat under the aspect of the unfamiliar by way of a twofold exploration of her own family history and the concept of Heimat itself. Knecht undertakes her long-term research through such various media as installation, archive, photography, video, sound, performance and the culinary arts. Her multifaceted oeuvre is informed by ten years of trans-disciplinary research into the concept of Heimat. In her work, however, the artist creates uniquely developed social sculptures, ranging from dinner parties and performance art through to the conceptualisation and execution of artworks, exhibitions and book projects.
Event Credits
Curated by Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes
Produced by Isobel Peyton-Jones
