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Overview

During the ninth week of study, through the workshop discussions of the course, I referred to the Will Pham’s work Recipes of Life, and designed my public exhibition project, a cooking workshop named Memory Recipes: The Taste of Translation, which plans to invite the local immigrant community to participate together. Regarding the part of collective activity, this week we watched the video works brought by Kirsty and discussed what themes the works were suitable for and in what form they should be presented. We also discussed the curatorial plans of the members and offered suggestions for each other’s proposals.

 

Public Programme – Cooking Workshop

Inspired by Recipes of Life, Will Pham, 2025

Socially engaged artwork
Multi-channel video installation

（https://willpham.co.uk/Recipes-of-Life-2025

 

Concept: Invite members of the Southeast Asian (particularly Vietnamese) diaspora community in Edinburgh, as well as any members of the public who are interested, to bring a recipe closely related to personal or family memories.

Image by: Tianshun Zhao
  • Before the cooking began, everyone sat together and shared the story behind this dish, such as migration, family, festivals, or a memorable moment. This directly corresponds to the concept of experiencing the story of remembrance and forgetting.
  • Under the guidance of the workshop instructor (who could be a community chef or the participant themselves), together we will prepare 1-2 representative dishes.
  • The entire process needs to be documented. This is not just about taking photos; it is more about recording the story. You can prepare a voice recorder or, with the consent of the participants, conduct a video recording. The recorded oral history, cooking process, and conversations among the participants are the key to translating memories into contemporary materials.
  • The outcome of the workshop is not the food itself, but rather the archives formed by these memories, conversations and processes.

 

Collective Saloon

Image by Hengyi Chen & Xurui Xie

Kirsity shared an image work related to cameras, which collected a large number of close-up shots of people holding cameras and taking pictures. We discussed together where this work would be suitable to appear in an exhibition and how it should be presented. Then, we shared our respective planning progress and offered some suggestions for each other’s projects. Finally, we completed the assembly of the collage poster together, took a group photo, and decided to conduct a mock exhibition with the theme of “No Heroes” next week. I will be responsible for the visual design work.

 

 

(Workshop Design and Collective Saloon © 2026 by Tianshun Zhao is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

(Workshop Design and Collective Saloon © 2026 by Tianshun Zhao is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

(Recipes of Life © WILL PHAM 2026)

(The Process of Workshop © 2026 by Tianshun Zhao is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

(Discussing © 2026 by Xurui Xie is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

(Discussing2 © 2026 by Xvrui Xie is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

(Pitch Poster © 2026 by Hengyi Chen is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

(Members © 2026 by Xurui Xie is licensed under CC BY 4.0)

WEEK 9: Workshop Design and Collective Saloon / Tianshun Zhao / Curating (2025-2026)[SEM2] by is licensed under a