Table for Miss A – 陳小曼 food & design

Table for Miss A: A Food Project on Eating Disorder

19世紀時，維多莉亞時期的少女們時常患有在當時被稱為「歇斯底里症」的疾病，此名稱源於古希臘，當時的人們普遍認為這是由女性子宮紊亂所導致。

儘管在禁慾主義盛行的16世紀的修道院中，當時卻被認為是神聖的修道成果；17世紀英國文獻已有相關記載，但直至1868年， William Gull 才系統性地對當時的四位女士病症做觀察、研究、治療。

文獻中史上最早以厭食症被記錄的 Miss A，17歲時僅有37公斤、已停經一年，狀態疲老。她幾乎不進食，並時常處於躁動狀態；除此之外，其他生理狀態與常人無大差異。

二十世紀以降，社會對於厭食症的認識漸趨明朗，卻也在80年代因為電視的普及、西方娛樂圈大量透過媒體倡導的模特文化，將厭食患者的數量與狀態推向了巔峰。從十六世紀至今多半為女性患者居多，亦與父權社會息息相關；然而千禧年後興起的健美風潮與社群媒體轉移，男性的厭食症狀也逐漸攀升。

2020年美國當紅歌手Taylor Swift的紀錄片 <Miss Americana> 也真實揭露了偶像光環後的沮喪與真實，也包括她自己患上厭食症的真實經歷。從17世紀的到現在此刻的 Miss A，心因性的各種飲食障礙，仍一直在百花齊放的社群媒體背面侵蝕因社會觀感對自我認同產生焦慮的人們。

Aren’t we all Miss A?

本次<Table for Miss A>計畫，將試著透過一場「吃」的體驗，碰觸到這個社會中普遍存在但鮮為人討論的議題，翻轉多數在進食條件中習以為常的「色香味」、「歡愉」、「幸福感」，轉化 eating disorder 患者在社會中面對的失序與壓迫，進而碰觸到心因性失調背後盤根錯節的當代社會結構。

<閱讀食物概念>
<體驗活動照片>

感官瑜伽 Sensory Yoga
國立臺灣美術館
2020/03/07-2020/06/07
策展人：林曉瑜
參展藝術家：陳小曼、程仁珮、Peter de Cupere、林人中、lololol、鬼丘鬼鏟、Shinseungback Kimyonghun、上田麻希

The maidens in the Victorian era of 19th-century Britain tended to be plagued by the illness called “hysteria,” a term originated from ancient Greek when the Greeks generally considered it a consequence of uterine disorder.

However, hysteria was construed as a divine achievement of monasticism when asceticism prevailed among monasteries in the 16th century. The literature concerning this subject could be found in Britain as early as the 17th century. Nonetheless, it was not until 1868 that Willian Gull started to systematically observe, study, and treat the symptoms of hysteria displayed by four ladies.

According to the literature, Miss A was the first patient diagnosed and recorded as anorexia. Aged 17, she was only 37kg in weight and experienced menopause for one year, which put years on her. Losing appetite for food, she was in a chronic state of agitation. Except that, she was little less than an ordinary person in terms of physiology.

People have acquired a growing understanding of anorexia since the 20th century, yet the patient number and manifestations of this illness peaked in the 1980s due to the popularization of television as well as the fashion-model culture fostered by the occidental entertainment industry via mass media. From the 16th century to date, females have constituted the majority of anorexia sufferers, which is closely associated with patriarchy. It is noteworthy that anorexia has also afflicted a growing number of males with the new fad for bodybuilding and the emergence of social media since the millennium.

American singer Taylor Swift’s 2020 documentary “Miss Americana” also revealed the truth and frustration behind the veil of superstardom, including her own experience in dealing with anorexia. From the 17th century to the present day “Miss A”, the various types of eating disorders continue to evolve and do damage as social media can lead certain people to grow increasingly anxious about their social perceptions and self-identification.

Aren’t we all Miss A?

The project Table for Miss A seeks to address the elephant in the room by dint of the experiment of “eating,” in which the experiences of “delight,” “sense of happiness,” as well as “color, aroma and taste” that people take for granted during eating will be subverted, and the disorder and oppression that anorexia patients suffer in the society will be transmuted, so that it can expose the intricate contemporary social structure behind such psychogenic disorder.

感官瑜伽 Sensory Yoga
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
2020/03/07-2020/06/07
Curator : Lin Hsiao-Yu
Artists: Slow Chen, Cheng Jen Pei, Peter de Cupere, River Lin, lololol, Ghost Mountain Ghost Shovel, Shinseungback Kimyonghun, Maki Udea