School of Creative
Industries
Tan Janice
Janice is a cook specialising in French and Chinese cuisine. Influenced by her everyday reality, she mainly works with cuisine as both medium and subject in her practice, examining it from both an artistic and socio-cultural anthropological perspective. She is interested in examining how various media interact with both the self and other, exploring their nature, while examining the notions of relationships, lived experiences and memory, and how they interact over space and time.
Within the sphere of art therapy, she is interested in how cuisine can be used as a medium for therapeutic change, and how it is a flexible medium that can be adapted to various cultures and populations. Janice has been privileged to work with the elderly and secondary school students as part of her training.
Work
Cook the Inspector: TWO: Amuse-bouche
Colour video. Silent.
2:26 mins
2022
Within Singapore, food remains the centre of her multicultural landscape, evolving over time, experienced and valued differently across spaces. The French Michelin Guide continues to be regarded as the standard to judge dining establishments.
Dishes from the everyday life of the artist were selected and recontextualised into a French seven course tasting menu, served by the elusive Chef T of TWO, who serves each menu for two weeks only, based on seasonal produce. Amuse-bouche serves as a teaser of the entire menu to come, where in this video-documented performance, the anonymous local Michelin inspector, Cook, critiques this dish while reflecting on her memories and experiences.
This work aims to challenge the constructed value of food by re-presenting everyday cuisine in Singapore into French haute cuisine, creating an absurd dish, aiming to prompt the viewer to reflect on how they experience food in their everyday lives.
Thesis abstract
Let’s go makan: A qualitative inquiry on the impact of integrating cuisine into group art therapy with adolescents in a technical course in singapore
Food is one of the pillars that drive Singaporean culture, an everyday object that engages the five senses while embodying personal narratives, memories and experiences. For this thesis, the word 'cuisine' is to be understood as the entire kitchen experience, from ingredients and dishes, to techniques. Following a practitioner- and art-based research approach through a qualitative group case study, this thesis utilises the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) to examine how integrating cuisine into art therapy – Cuisine-Based Art Therapy (C-BAT) – can be used to address the therapeutic needs of adolescents in a technical course in Singapore and create therapeutic change. This research established that cuisine is an adaptable and flexible art medium which can be modified and adapted to various needs that are presented during the therapeutic encounter, while also being adaptable to various cultures and populations. It is to be noted that sensitivity to ingredients and techniques can impact therapeutic change. Recommendations for future research and implications of the use of cuisine in art therapy are addressed in this thesis.