TOUCHING AND TASTING IS NOT FORBIDDEN
GOLDENROD
a public intervention and pop-up tea shop
What is touching and tasting? What does it mean to yield to a tactual provocation as the recipients of art? Does activation of the senses, other than vision, launch some other mechanism for the understanding of works of art? Through the reassessment of a daily activity, GOLDENROD examines how memory can inform our present day perspective.
During a two month residency at The Wassaic Project in the fall of 2015 (Wassaic, NY), Brigitta Varadi collected and dried local goldenrods following her grandmother’s knowledge. She created 1000 Goldenrod Tea bags, each numbered and signed, accompanied by 100 screen printed tea boxes. The work echoed Varadi’s grandmother’s own practice: a process-oriented labor and old tradition passed down from each generation. The tea becomes a symbol for both the artist and the audience to question and examine multiple levels of depth regarding memories of the past. In addition to the tea, Varadi created objects using textured wool dyed with goldenrod – hand felted and hand stitched – to provide a platform for an intimate engagement of conversing and tea drinking.
Image by Sonja John
Each Goldenrod Tea box had an information leaflet included.
The story of the Goldenrod Tea:
When I was little my grandmother took me with her to collect herbs which she turned into teas, creams and tinctures. I grew up by the fragrance of drying herbs; there was always a cream or tea simmering on the stove.
During my walks in Wassaic, NY, I came across a meadow on Deep Hollow Road shimmering in golden yellow under the sun.
Goldenrod has long been used as herbal medicine among Native Americans who introduced the herb to the colonists. After the Boston Tea Party, the herb became the main source for tea: it became known as ‘Liberty Tea’.
Your organic 100% biodegradable tea bag contains handpicked and dried goldenrod (solidago odora).
- Brigitta Varadi
Public Interventions:
2017 Spring Break Art Show, ArtsSlant, curated by Joel Kunnen, February 28th-March 6th, New York, USA
2016 Ortega y Gasset Project, curated by Will Hutnick, July 14th, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2016 Wassaic Project, Summer Festival, July 6th, Wasaic, NY, USA,
2016 Wassaic Project, Summer Festival, July 7th, Wasaic, NY, USA,
2015 Wassaic Residency, October 30th, Wassaic, NY, USA
2015 Wassaic Residency, October 31st, Wasaic, NY, USA
