The project „us cookbook“ is a reflection about violence and death penalty as a pointless revenge of the contemporary class society. The project started in 2004 and connects different art forms: painting, drawing, installation, performance, sound and film. So far „us cookbook“ shows took place in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brooklyn NY and Mestlin / GER.
The us cookbook
The cookbook includes 8 menus served to 8 people before they were executed. It also includes the inmate information together with a summary of the crime.
From the preface of the cookbook:
"This us cookbook is an introduction to a special kind of the US*American cooking. The recepies are created by people who were sentenced to the death penalty in the state of Texas and the menus were served to them as their final meal directly before they were electrocuted. This is an example of a growing number of final meals at Texas jails.“
The menus are found in 2004 on the webside of Texas Department of Criminal Justice (www.tdcj.state.tx.us). Actually these menus are deleted from the webside, but you can find last statements …
The final menus
Forget the last cigarette or the big extra delicious meal from the HOLLYWOOD movies: the real final meal is just that what you can get from a Texas jail canteen, and this is junk food. The choice is between nothing and as much as possible ...
