Forma de vida is Andrea d’Amore’s exploration of street food in Mexico City. It is not so much about what to eat as it is about how to live, what form of life to take, according to the oldest meaning of the term diet (from the Greek diaita, “life, way of life, rule of life”). Diet is an approach, a perceptual attitude with respect to the rhythm of life in which, of course, food is also of considerable importance. In this respect, diet is not only about an aesthetics of living but also an ethics of behavior.

Forma de vida is thus constructed as a convivial experience that primarily involves the metabolic and transmutation processes of 3 ingredients: corn, chocolate, and water. The entrance of the Institute is transformed into a forest of vertical totems made of plantain leaves, a key element in the tamales production process. In the kitchen, corn is brought to a high temperature, to the point of explosion and transmutation into popcorn (many people who attended the performance told that it has always been their daydream.). In the next room, chocolate is used as an art material to create a votive environment of visual and olfactory immersion. In the conference room, a backdrop of plantain leaves accompany the visitor to a grand piano topped by a liver of chips. Finally in the courtyard, inside the fountain, d’Amore mounts a street kitchen where he cooks and offers the public a polenta accompanied with a ragout of mole Poblano.

text by Matteo Binci