MICROSTORY OF ART

MICROSTORY OF ART
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Dedicated to the Kitchen

(Picture: DS: The Party)

The Kitchen

(10/12.8.2023)

On the very left, that’s me, withdrawing into the kitchen, while the party is on (picture: DS)

If the party is loud, I am usually to be found in the kitchen.
Alone?
No, usually not alone. Not many people are drawn to the kitchen, if the party is loud, but some people are drawn to the kitchen, if the party is loud. It’s the place that is warm. It has food, well, the food is coming from there.
Is it for the food?
No. Yes. Also for the food. But not primarily for the food.
Are you the cook?
No, I am not the cook. I can cook. Well, some things. I am good in measured areas. With very specific things. If I am cooperating with someone who, perhaps, has the more broad view in cooking, this can work out very well. But I am not the cook. Usually there is no cook in the kitchen, if the party is loud.
So why gathering in the kitchen, if the party is on, alone, well, more or less alone? Are you seeking the adventure?
Adventure? What do you mean? If the kitchen is, perhaps, not very crowded while the party is loud, it is still, well, a half-public space (in the context of the party). So, not the kind of adventure you might be thinking of. But yes, perhaps it is for the adventure.
So for what reason is it?
Well, I don’t know exactly. I do remember a party, it must have been some thirty years ago or so, and I was given the obviously well-meant advice by the host to throw myself more into the turmoil. So, if I am remembering that scene, I must have been reluctant, already then, to throw myself into the turmoil. But perhaps I did learn then that I was expected to do so. But I did not feel to do so.
Why not?
Perhaps there are people, inclined by nature, to stay rather reluctant, to observe the game of life rather from the margins, from the doorstep. Or from the kitchen. But the kitchen is interesting. It is rather the place to withdraw from a scene, if you already have entered a scene. So, in a way, I had thrown myself in the turmoil of life, because otherwise I would not have been invited to that party. But only within limits I had thrown myself into the turmoil. It’s like travelling. Some people like to travel, some people enjoy more the experience of having travelled, drawing on the few trips they have done, and this for a very long time.
So you are the chronicler of life? The life in the kitchen or on that party?
No, I don’t see myself as a historian of daily life, and certainly not of other people’s daily life. But yes, part of staying in the kitchen while the party is loud, is to have good conversations with people. Other people sensing the contrast, perhaps, between party noise and relative silence, between the party and the more quiet contemplation. But I do not like the philosophers who seem to have stayed in the kitchen for all their life, dwelling in mere abstraction of things rather heard of. Some experiences of life you must have, and as a writer you have to drawn on these. These experiences, yet, do not have to be spectacular. But life is deep also at the margins of the spectacle. Some experiences you must have, respectively to be aware of (you have these experiences anyway). To withdraw from the party. To weigh the experiences. Like a philosopher. And perhaps the kitchen is the zone. The area of contact with other people who also are feeling the need to take a more deeper breath. Every now and then perhaps. And this is resulting in these specific conversations you might have in the kitchen, while the party is loud. The moments of relative silence are felt more intensely against that backdrop of loud party noise. And everyone has deep experiences anyway.\\ You think that noise is rather empty?
No, not at all. I see vitality as something basically good, but I am still not inclined to throw myself into the turmoil. Somehow I do have to invest the vitality that I might have in other ways than throwing myself into the party. I don’t know. Well, after all, it might be for the food anyway. But I am not inclined to see life as a feast. Perhaps this is the deeper reason why. I see that it has to include the feast. But perhaps I am just not inclined to celebrate the feast, if I may say so. Or I just do it in other ways. From the margins. By staying in the kitchen when the party is loud.

(Picture: DS: Kitchen Talk)

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