Mahlzeit! Serving Gender
With its three-part exhibition series Mahlzeit!, the Museum Gunzenhauser 2026 explores the theme of food in art. Following the exhibition Feinkunsthalle, which focused on the representation of the consumer and cultural history of food in art, the second part, Serving Gender, examines the complex connections between gender roles and food from a feminist perspective. Drawing on the collections of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz and supplemented by contemporary art on loan, the exhibition presents works spanning different eras that reveal the diverse interconnections and ambivalences existing at the intersection of food and the social role of women. The scope ranges from Eve’s apple as the origin myth of female responsibility, through breast milk as a symbol of biological and socially expected care, to the complex norms, rituals and role models that link women and bodies perceived as female to the act of nurturing and eating.
In the global context, women have for centuries carried the main burden of the often invisible, unpaid care work associated with food: they cook, they provide food, they feed children, families and communities. Serving Gender focuses on women as society’s primary food providers and examines gender-specific ambivalences regarding food, which are linked to social power structures, cultural norms, role attributions, and the control and disciplining of the female body.
Central to the exhibition is the question of how food not only satisfies biological needs but also reproduces social structures: Who prepares the food, and who is depicted in images of these processes? What expectations of female care shape the dining table? Who is allowed to have an appetite? And why, in fact, are most top chefs male?
The exhibition ranges from the 19th century through significant feminist works of the 1970s, such as Martha Rosler’s iconic video work Semiotics of the Kitchen, to numerous contemporary works by artists including Sophia Süßmilch, Ivonne Thein, Henriette Grahnert, Julia Kissina, Eliane Diur and Fern Liberty Kallenbach Campbell. In terms of media, the exhibition ranges from textile art and painting to graphic art and photography, and includes video works.
Overview of the Mahlzeit! exhibition series:
Feinkunsthalle
7 March – 14 June 2026
Inspired by the spatial structure of a grocery store, the exhibition spaces of the Feinkunsthalle invite visitors to discover the finest foods and delicacies from the collections of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz.
Serving Gender
4 July – 1 November 2026
The second exhibition explores the relationship between gender roles and food. It presents artworks from across different periods that connect labour and care, bodies and social roles with the preparation and distribution of food, and invites visitors to reinterpret visual narratives from a feminist perspective.
Zu Tisch (At the Table)
27 November 2026 – 4 April 2027
The third part of the exhibition series focuses on the social and cultural aspects of food in art: convivial moments, social situations, communal contexts, as well as cultural traditions, celebrations, and rituals. At its core is the question of how culture around eating and drinking takes shape — and when food itself becomes a cultural phenomenon.
