Nutritional Content Of Collection (AGSA)

A sculptural model of the Art Gallery of South Australia made from ice cream cones and wafers. — **Emmaline Zanelli**, *Sweet Dreams* (AGSA diorama of ice cream wafers) (detail), 2022, digital photograph. Courtesy Emmaline Zanelli.

Please click here to download an accessible PDF of this article.

To the Board and Associates,

We write to you today from our generous research quarters here at the Art Gallery of South Australia, to present an update on our current examinations. It has been several months since the beginning of our assignment, and already we have made many discoveries.

Our assignment has firstly required the development of a structure by which to classify and digest the over 47,000 artworks that we are tasked with assessing. This is our largest nutrition assessment effort to date, with previous largest assessments Woolworths and Coles stocking 38,525 and 25,827 products respectively. As you will see in these research excerpts, we suggest a co‐classification system merging the Nutrition Australia’s Healthy Eating Pyramid (2015 edition), and six diet styles currently popular in restaurants in the Adelaide CBD. We believe the function of this categorisation will be to encourage the public to utilise their own dietary habits and food knowledge as a means to critique and relate to the artworks and potentially the gallery as a structure. Some initial discoveries made through the use of this structure include: the most prominently featured protein within the collection is seafood (FISH, SHELLFISH), vegetables are alarmingly absent given their foundational role in the food pyramid (2015 edition), the most featured fruit in the collection are grapes, and sugar plays an insidious role across different areas of the gallery, often without being visible.

Please note that these research excerpts are not intended to describe any resolved findings yet, and as such may appear abstract.

Yours in Good Health,

E. Zanelli and K. Bosecke
A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H. Project Researcher Team
Australian Bureau of Cultural Dietetics and Eating For Good Health

A collage of images and handwritten text. Images featured include film stills from National Treasure, showing the characters using lemon juice on an old document, alongside a still life painting of lemons and crab. The text describes the health benefits of lemon, crab and alcohol. — **Kurt Bosecke** and **Emmaline Zanelli**, [collage], mixed media, 2022, featuring (from top): *National Treasure,* 2004, directed by Jon Turteltaub, Walt Disney Pictures; **Pieter Claesz**, Still life with a Roemer, a crab and a peeled lemon, 1643, oil on wood panel. Courtesy the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Listen to artist Kurt Bosecke read his handwritten text from the Nutritional Content of Collection visual essay.

A film still of seven hands gesturing to a painted plate. A block of handwritten text below the film still describes the plate is decorated with images of grapes. — **Kurt Bosecke, Eloise Holoubek** and **Emmaline Zanelli**, video still from *Impressive Vibrant Fantasy Buffet,* featuring *Bowl with Grapes, Iran* (artist unknown), 1800-1900, earthenware, glaze. Courtesy Eloise Holoubek.

A collage of images and handwritten text. The images include a bronze sculpture of a man's torso, a group of people doing a yoga in an art gallery and an internet screenshot of Joe Rogan and the Liver King. The text describes how to stay fit and diets in Ancient Greece to the twenty-first century. — **Kurt Bosecke** and **Emmaline Zanelli,** [collage], mixed media, 2022, featuring (top left): **Auguste Rodin,** *The Walking Man, large torso,* c. 1905 (E. Godard Foundry, cast 1985), bronze. William Bowmore AO OBE Collection. Gift of the South Australian Government, assisted by the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 1996, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; (top right) **Kurt Bosecke, Eloise Holoubek** and **Emmaline Zanelli,** video still from documentation of *Nutritional Index* tour, 2022. Courtesy Eloise Holoubek; (bottom) Screenshot of Google results from search *Joe Rogan and Liver King,* 2022.

A cartoon style anatomical drawing of a muscular man on a green background. — **Kurt Bosecke,** *Untitled (Muscle man with anatomy),* 2022, chalk markers on acrylic sheet, photographed on green background. Courtesy Kurt Bosecke and Emmaline Zanelli.

A collage of image and handwritten text. The image is an historical painting featuring a bounty of exotic seafood and mythological figures. The text below describes an historical account of the painting. — **Kurt Bosecke** and **Emmaline Zanelli**, [collage], mixed media, 2022, featuring Luca Giordano and **Guiseppe Recco,** *The Riches of the Sea with Neptune, triton and two nereids (after Recco and Giordano),* 1684, oil on canvas, Mary Overton Gift Fund 1997, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

A collage of image and handwritten text. The image is a paper collage featuring a bounty of seafood and people doing exercise. The text below describes a pescatarian diet. — **Kurt Bosecke** and **Emmaline Zanelli,** [collage], mixed media, 2022, featuring **Emmaline Zanelli,** *The Riches of the Sea with Neptune, triton and two nereids (after Recco and Giordano),* 2022, collage on paper. Courtesy Emmaline Zanelli.

A collage of images and handwritten text. The images include a cartoon style drawing of Michael Jackson holding two large lollypops, one in each hand, and a photograph of sugar cubes laid out in a grid on top of an image of a man running away from a flaming zombie. The text describes zombie culture in Peter Booth's Untitled 1984 painting. — **Kurt Bosecke** and **Emmaline Zanelli,** [collage], mixed media, 2022, featuring (top): **Kurt Bosecke**, *Zombie Michael Jackson holding two lollypops for a thriller night and its delicious and sweet while grooving around doing thriller night dance from the song!,* 2022, marker on paper. Courtesy Kurt Bosecke and Tutti Arts; (bottom) **Emmaline Zanelli,** *Sugar Cubes - after Edward Steichen (Cillian Murphy runs from a flaming infected zombie in 28 days later, 2002),* 2022, digital photograph. Courtesy Emmaline Zanelli.

A collage of image and handwritten text. The image is a close-up photograph of a McDonalds cup label and the text describes an artwork by Jake and Dinos Chapman. — **Kurt Bosecke** and **Emmaline Zanelli**, [collage], mixed media, 2022, featuring **Emmaline Zanelli,** close up of a McDonalds cup, 2022. Courtesy Emmaline Zanelli.

Contemporary South Australian artists Kurt Bosecke, of Tutti Arts, and Emmaline Zanelli created Alternative Guided Tour: Nutritional Index in partnership with Tutti Arts and the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) as part of Tutti Arts’ project Reaching Out. Tutti Arts fosters the talents of learning disabled and neurodiverse creatives who work across visual art, theatre, music, screen, dance, and technology. Reaching Out sees learning disabled and neurodiverse visual artists work side-by-side with non-disabled peers artistically responding to leading cultural institutions.

Nutritional Index was presented at AGSA in February 2022. Their video work Impressive and Vibrant Fantasy Buffet: 5 essential rules to help you achieve an Auguste Rodin torso in under two months will screen during SALA opening celebrations on 5 August.

Reaching Out is supported by Arts South Australia.

Award-winning visual artist Kurt Bosecke, of Tutti Arts, creates bold and dynamic work in riotous colour. Kurt has a comic and narrative style, often informed by fantasy and screen culture.

Emmaline Zanelli is an early-career artist born and based in Tarntanya, Kaurna Country. She works across photography, video and performance, and is a member of The Bait Fridge collective.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter