The show, curated by Yasmeen Abdallah, Aneta Dodge and Kathie Halfin is titled Spaghetti-O Incident. It considers the prescribed gender roles and the body in relation to domesticity, the utilitarian, and food. Inspired by Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen, we celebrate its witty, performative critique of oppressive gender roles at the kitchen that displays and assigns names to the tools in alphabetic order. We embody its spirit by updating it to reflect an array of artists with contemporary interdisciplinary approaches.

In borrowing the title of the exhibition from Guns N’ Roses The Spaghetti Incident? that references a food fight between Axl Rose and Steven Adler and further reveals the code word Spaghetti for the Adler’s drugs that he stored in a fridge. We explore how the band’s swagger, grandiosity and macho behaviors constituted millennial stereotypes which were already present in place long before Gans N’ Roses existed. We question how certain aspects of these stereotypes evolved to reflect on their mystique. 

In doing so, we further Rosler’s investigation of gender and heteronormativity into an updated dialogue that takes the viewer/participant on a journey, beginning in the 1970’s, through the 1990’s, and into the present day. Guns N’ Roses itself implies specified gender roles (macho rocker dudes and the sexy women that the songs are about and who appear in their art. Not to mention those allegations against Axl Rose of spousal abuse, self-indulgence, alpha machismo and control issues...

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Participating Artists: Julia Blume, Victoria Calabro, Kat Cope, Pei-Ling Ho, Sarah Dineen, Vyczie Dorado, Ariel Kleinberg, Alison Owen, Muhajir Subuur Lesure, Jean Carla Rodea, Jordan Segal and Yasmeen Abdallah