Identical Lunch

The Identical Lunch, whose origins are found in the mists of the 1960s, consists of consuming that very same meal, usually in company. Supposedly inspired by her friend and fellow Fluxus artist Phillip Corner, who remarked once that Knowles ate the exact same thing for lunch every day, the work initially involved asking people to try the meal with her, often at a local diner, and to write about their experience. This "event score," as Knowles terms it, has been performed again and again, in New York and beyond.

(http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/nathan/alison-knowles-identical-lunch1-21-11.asp)

In conjunction with the exhibition Contemporary Art from the Collection, Alison Knowles is inviting Museum visitors to have an “identical lunch” with her, as a performance piece, on select dates in January and February in MoMA’s Cafe 2. Knowles conceived of The Identical Lunch in the late 1960s, when her friend and fellow Fluxus artist Philip Corner noticed that she ate the same lunch every day: “a tuna fish sandwich on wheat toast with butter and lettuce, no mayo, and a cup of soup or glass of buttermilk.” Turning this habit into a performance, she asked friends to try the same lunch, often at a local diner, and to write about their experiences. The project has evolved to include communal meals served by Knowles along with artist’s books gathering photographs and participants’ descriptions of the events. For the MoMA performance, participants must sign up for the event on MoMA’s website, MoMA.org. Registration begins January 3 at 9:30 a.m. Space is limited; lunch will be free with Museum admission. The exhibition is organized by Kathy Halbreich, Associate Director, and Christophe Cherix, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art.

https://www.moma.org/calendar/performance/1583