Dirty Furniture is thrilled to be part of the 5^th Istanbul Design Biennial this year, presenting our first film, The Cooking Show. In our jam-packed video essay we ask why we like watching the making of a meal most of us will never prepare – let alone eat – and take you on a rollercoaster ride through the history of a genre that is at once a staple of television viewing and a hot pot of shifting perspectives and sociocultural values.Dirty Furniture’s The Cooking Show closes the Biennial’s superb Critical Cooking Show online programme. Curated by Mariana Pestana with Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben, the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial takes the theme of ‘Empathy Revisited’ examining the kitchen, food and commensality as an expanded field of design.

The video essay launches on e-flux Architecture and the Biennial website. You can also watch it here.

Shout out to our brilliant film editor Wendy Short, master of sound Chris Grieves and invaluable team of researchers from Kingston University.