Restaurants that combine multiple disciplines beyond food have been around for some time. What sets Appetite apart?

Jean Ng (JN): “What I think sets us apart is the team and our ethos: our central pillar of crossroads. Nouri has been at that for the past three years with crossroads as an idea; a question. It’s also the place from which we explore the different ideas that become our exhibition themes at Appetite.

Crossroads is also extremely relevant to Singapore. If you think about it, ‘crossroads’ is basically a formal word to encapsulate the ‘chapalang-ness’ of human history. Civilisations have always interacted. Crossroads as a guiding theme is applicable on so many disparate fronts, but because it is also one that is broad enough that you can work on a lot of specific sub-topics, we are able to put together a series of efforts, programmes, workshops, research at Appetite that is cohesive and tight.”

Kaushik Swaminathan (KS): “I think generally what happens is one of the individual elements in such multi-concept spaces is really strong and the other is kind of just an afterthought. For many members of our team, our formative years were spent in cities around the world: Ivan in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as London, for example, while some important cities in my life were Tokyo and New York.

There was an energy – a specific kind of creativity that was present in those cities that we felt was lacking in Singapore. Yet we also love living here. So we wanted to take a risk and bring that energy here and see how people respond. We knew that if we were to do it though, we had to do it right, which meant investing a lot of money, time and capital talent into the space, all while knowing that there aren’t really other places like this in Singapore and we didn’t know how people were going to or will respond.”

What are some of the difficulties in curating art for a space like a restaurant?

JN: “Singapore’s art scene is still very young. We have a strong modern masters movement and since the early 2000s to the past decade or so, we’ve been growing while also experiencing setbacks – as with all industries. With that, one of the key focuses is always being able to lower the barriers to entry for Singaporeans and help them to understand art in a way that’s not intimidating.

Being accessible is always a big thing. People should not have to feel like they need to have an art education to understand something. Even when it comes to technical matters such as the description for artworks, we think about what it would take to tell the story in a way that’s most human-centred and understandable. And it doesn’t mean that the artist’s idea has to be diluted.”

How do you make the space more accessible to different kinds of audiences?

JN: “Appetite’s got a different set-up to our sister restaurant Nouri (which is more focused on its tasting menu). There are a la carte options at Appetite and folks can do pre-drinks here before going for dinner. At the same time, we also work with institutions and schools to have students come over for tours. This space holds a lot of different ideas and energy so while we have evening services, this programming aspect is available in the day… We’ve also done talks and interviews here and we’re hoping to be able to do more when Phase 3 hits.”

How has the movement of putting art into restaurants evolved?

JN: “I think at the start, it was mostly just about putting art onto the walls. Some places have chefs or members on the team who are more culturally plugged in and bring in music and art that breathe some cultural relevance into the food. Generally speaking though, the art can start off – and remain – as more of a decorative element. With the idea of crossroads being Appetite’s core philosophy that runs through everything we do, the approach to art however does not become kitsch. When you think of all elements as part of an orchestra, it will make sense – all the different parts must work together.”

Tell me more about Appetite’s remote team of external researchers.

JN: “Kaushik and I are essentially the two members of this team who are in Singapore. We’ve got calls every week that primarily explore visual material culture – everything from food, to textile, to art. We have fantastic research associates and they’re a huge part of why we’re able to do what we do. They’re very plugged in and curious – most of them are undergrads and graduate students based around the world.

We don’t ever call for a specific background or training. We just call for people who are curious and love to explore questions that link food to music, art, textiles, architecture, anthropological objects and so on. Every week we send them down a rabbit hole to dig for more details and form their opinions, and Kaushik and I act like synthesisers for all this data.”

What’s in store for Appetite in 2021?

KS: “I think the biggest aspect of Appetite is to mobilise a robust programming surrounding our art, music and research that will involve workshops, masterclasses, panel discussions, poetry workshops, readings and book launches, and using the space to bring people together from different disciplines who would otherwise never interact.

So what would it mean for a computer scientist and a poet to be presented together? What would it mean for a cryptocurrency expert and a musician to talk about a specific subject that may be related in obscure ways? And when we can have larger groups, I think those kinds of interactions will be profound. We haven’t witnessed anything like this in Singapore and are really, really excited for this to become a space where that happens.”

This article first appeared in the January/February 2021 Art & Music Edition of FEMALE