Capsicum
Capsicum: music against racism
Audiovisual and gastronomic Installation
Pique-assiette exhibition
L’Anguille,
Grenoble
(May 21 to June 21 2026)
Capsicum is an installation created by a collective of immigrant artists and cooks living in the UK, led by David Vélez. Pairing audiovisual, sonic and gastronomic media, this installation honors the resilience of diasporic communities as they challenge racism, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination. The musicality of food sounds underscores the political significance of food for immigrant communities in the UK—the subject of research of this project.
This installation encompasses two pieces
Capsicum I: Labour
Audiovisual work (duration: 11 min 49 s)
Featuring: Supriya Nagarajan
Directed by: Aurora Foulds, David Vélez
Cinematography: Aurora Foulds
Capsicum II: Cooking Heat
Sound and gastronomic work (duration: 17 min 12 s)
Curatorial text
Step by step, feet first into the dish, from one bite to the next, we become what we eat and we eat what we have become. The nourishment of our bodies shapes our emotions, our behaviors, and our relationship to others; and with that same forkful, it feeds collective memory. Sot-l’y-laisse!
Whether we exchange recipes, serve one another with our hands, talk with our mouths full, or mop up sauce from a neighbor’s plate: sharing food is an ancestral celebration, one you are invited to enjoy together.
The emotional language of a meal seasons each of our senses and accompanies us through time. The act of cooking becomes a shared occasion to tell stories, to listen, and to revive our sensitive relationship to the world — day and night, simmered with love in a communal pot.
To bring capsicum to life, David Vélez combined food sounds of Chicken Tikka, cooked by Ruchi Singh from India, and Jerk Chicken, prepared by Sandra Allen from Jamaica, paired with musical improvisations by Supriya Nagarajan, Maria Sappho, Cyanching Wu and Colin Frank.
David Vélez and Supriya Nagarajan
Cyanching Wu
Maria Sappho and Colin Frank
Concept
Since the 1950s, Asian and Caribbean immigrants in Britain have faced violent discrimination, often targeting the rich, aromatic presence of their food. Acts of vandalism against restaurants and home kitchens by white individuals have been documented, alongside persistent discrimination from landlords contra diaspora tenants. In some cases, these immigrants have replied to prejudice and hostility by sharing their cuisine as a peaceful yet powerful response, evidencing the political prowess of food, capable of disarm the intimidator without the use of violence.
Paradoxically, as Asian and Caribbean dishes gained popularity, British politicians have attempted to claim intellectual authorship over some of them, exemplifying how colonialism undermines the cultural heritage of colonized communities to strip them of autonomy.
https://marginalfrequency.bandcamp.com/track/when
https://marginalfrequency.bandcamp.com/track/uproot
https://marginalfrequency.bandcamp.com/track/grim
https://marginalfrequency.bandcamp.com/track/cooking-heat
David Vélez: research, recordings, composition – Col/UK
Supriya Nagarajan: voice – India/UK
Maria Sappho: piano and objects – USA/UK
Cyanching Wu: cello and field recordings – Taiwan/UK
Colin Frank: percussion – Canada/UK
Sandra Allen: cooking sounds – Jamaica/UK
Ruchi Singh: cooking sounds – India/UK
Joanne Mansley, David, and Dalston market traders: shouting
Graphic design, layout, and photography: David Vélez
Mastering and produced by: Alan F. Jones
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