Join the Minyan for a special tour of the exhibition Staging the Table in Europe 1500-1800, led by curator and guide Deborah Krohn, Bard Graduate Center Chair of Academic Programs and Minyan M'at member.

This exhibition, opening February 17, 2023 at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery (BGC), will explore elite dining customs and fashions. The exhibition uses illustrated manuals and handbooks published in Early Modern Europe to give a window into a world of culinary spectacle and shed light on what became a pan-European culture of elaborate performance surrounding the preparation and presentation of food. With more than fifty examples of books, knives, carving sets, linens, and other items from the late Middle Ages to the end of the eighteenth century, Staging the Table in Europe reveals how the realm of food and table service became a space for practices and objects designed to inspire wonder.

The exhibition will be on view at Bard Graduate Center from February 17 to July 9, 2023. Exhibition curator Deborah Krohn, Associate Professor and Chair of Academic Programs at BGC and a leading expert on Early Modern European culinary culture, said “The historic manuals at the heart of Staging the Table in Europe 1500–1800 contain a wealth of information on otherwise invisible aspects of material and social life. Through intriguing and often beautiful illustrations, they provided the people of Early Modern Europe instruction on expertly carving meats and fruits, folding napkins into animal forms, performing tableside magic tricks, and creating tablescapes for courtly banquets. These volumes were tremendously popular and appeared across Europe, and they are as arresting in our day as they were in their own time. Staging the Table in Europe 1500–1800 reveals the spread of this new culture of the table and enables visitors to connect our present-day interest in food service and presentation to the practices of this period.”

Please register below. NOTE: Make sure to select either 1 or 2 in the dropdown menu next to "Attending Free" (depending on whether registering just for yourself, or for two people).

If you have any questions, or trouble registering, contact Melane Schneider, Minyan M'at Social Ties Co-Chair, at melschndr@gmail.com.