BREAK + PAUSA
Cayetano Juarez hails from Oaxaca Mexico and has spent 15 years crafting delicious meals in a plethora of California restaurants. Christina Sanchez Juarez is a socially and politically engaged artist working in the public sphere on projects that address social justice for marginalized communities. Together they initiated the Break+Pausa project as a long-term, Los Angeles-based artistic and culinary inquiry into the lives of immigrant restaurant workers. Through informal interviews, performative interventions, and shared meals, the project acts as a form of civic pedagogy that engages workers, students, food advocates, labor organizers and all people who love to eat out, in developing a worker-centered philosophy to eating ethically.
TEST KITCHEN: Round 1
"In Between Jobs"
Performance + Dialogue + Action
Cerritos College Art Gallery, November 2013
2nd Los Angeles SUR: biennial 2013
Test Kitchen: Round 1 "In Between Jobs" brought together restaurant workers, performers, and culinary students for an evening of participatory performance. The performance was held in the Falcon Room, a fully operational restaurant run by the students of the Cerritos College Culinary Arts department. Performers and students used the Break+Pausa score cards as performance prompts which filled the restaurant with immigrant worker testimonials, a cacophony of kitchen sounds, and visuals of repetitive work gestures. The performance was produced in collaboration with TeAda Productions and Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles.
LIVING WAGE
Performance + Meal
Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, 2012
Living Wage unfolded in the weeks and hours leading up to the September 8th dinner as a mini/temporary restaurant worker cooperative comprised of cooks Ariel Torres and Cayetano Juarez. The project created an opportunity for two restaurant workers to autonomously cook, design a menu, and exchange skills, all while earning the 2012 Los Angeles living wage of $20.89 an hour. The performance culminated in a dinner which unveiled the cooks’ culinary creations and featured a conversation about ethical dining.
Living Wage was produced by the artist in collaboration with workers from the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles (ROC-LA), the artist Andrea Bowers, and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Kitchen courtesy of Good Girl Dinette.
TWO SCORES
Installation/Performance
Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, 2012
1) SILENCED NO MORE is designed for your voice.
2) ACTIONS FOR WORKERS is designed for your body.
Begin by selecting an apron or a chef jacket from the hooks that line the walls. When you take a uniform off a hook you will discover your next set of directions.
Silenced No More is printed on white card stock and should be performed at the microphone. Actions For Workers is printed on grey card stock and should be performed according to the directions on each card.
SILENCED NO MORE (2)
Performance
Street Action, 2012
The Silenced No More script was performed by members of Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles in front of the Capital Grille restaurant in mid April of 2012. ROC LA launched the Dignity at Darden national campaign in 2012 against the Darden restaurant group for wage theft and discrimination.
SILENCED NO MORE (1)
Performance + Meal
Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, 2012
The Break + Pausa project was invited to host a luncheon for Chaffey College students by the artist Edith Abeyta. Abeyta co-hosted an open dialogue with artists, activists, scholars and government representatives each Monday from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm at the Wignall Museum. Each discussion will focused on the practicalities, politics, access and solutions to our current food crisis.
DEAR DISHWASHER
Performance Action
***** Restaurant, 2012
Moment of acknowledgment. Dishwasher placard and thank you letter delivered on a Wednesday evening in December of 2012.