Networked Commensals: Bodily, Relational and Performative Affordances of Sharing Food Remotely

This chapter examines the qualities of intimate quotidian moments shared on networked screens. It is informed by my project By Invitation Only (2016–2017), a body of networked relational performances based on food sharing. It examines the desire for embodied distributed connectivity in screen-based relationality and the performativity of everyday relationality as it emerges around food: how does sharing food qualitatively transform screen-based interpersonal relationships? How do artists intervene in these quotidian practices by producing proximity mediated by technology? How do these experiences shift the discourse on body and embodiment?