Have your art and eat it too at MoMA

by Elizabeth Clayton

          If you find yourself around West 53^rd St craving lunch, look no further than The Museum of Modern Art.  I don’t mean The Modern, Danny Meyer’s upscale ground-floor establishment, nor Café Two, his more casual eatery which draws museum-goers – and long lines.  No, I’m talking about a free lunch. For the price of a MoMA ticket you can satisfy a hunger for art and a hunger for lunch with vegetarian Thai green curry.

          Located in the second-floor galleries, artist Rirkrit Tiravanija has revived his piece, called “Untitled (Free/Still).”  Though he’s Argentine-born, his “sculpture” features a mean Thai curry.  Originally, the artist converted empty office space into a makeshift kitchen and gave free curry to anyone who walked in. 

          At MoMA, however, the curry is made in the kitchen of the Modern and delivered to the gallery.  A remarkably agreeable Modern employee doles an ice cream scoop of rice into a small take-out container, and tops it with vegetables in a spicy (though definitely not Thai-spicy) green sauce.   Neatly wiping away any spills that dot the rim, he hands me the container with a napkin.  The vegetables – eggplant, carrot and bok choy -- come in big chunks, though not too big to eat with the plastic spoon provided.

          Tiravanija’s “room” – a gallery – is a wood floor connected to two-by-four open walls filled with makeshift tables and chairs.  Open the vintage refrigerator to find plastic bags of bok choy and gallon jugs of water.  Plastic cups sit on top.  It’s all part of the installation.  Take as much water as you want, and then toss plastic and leftovers into the massive garbage can (no food or drink is allowed beyond the room). 

          Curry is available from noon to 3 every day but Friday, when it is served from 4 to 7, until February 8.  

Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St. between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. 212-708-9400.

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