‘Vanitas: Archive of Arrested Decay’

A unique durational performance taking place at the Michigan State University Broad Art Museum today (April 23) through Saturday (April 26) aims to explore how food sustains and nourishes us not only physically but also culturally.

“Vanitas: Archive of Arrested Decay,” created by Carmel Bar and Michal Evyatar of Mela, a multisensory art and design studio based in Israel, showcases preserved food items that will harden and shift over the course of the four-day run, “revealing not only their physical substance but a cultural imprint — an unspoken testament of agricultural landscapes, human touch and collective memory,” the Broad website states. “Mummification becomes a futile attempt to arrest the inevitable, with each preserved specimen testifying to our human desire to resist impermanence.”

Visitors are invited to add to the performance by bringing a food item to be preserved from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday (April 25). The items should be something “from the home you grew up in that has the flavors and smells of home.”

For more information on "Vanitas,” visit broadmuseum.msu.edu.