gelatin, gateaux, and guillotines

Concept This sequential recut pulls from three main influences: the French artistic style of Rococo, the iconic reign of Marie Antoinette, and the swift uprise of the French revolution. The quote “Let them eat cake” is famously attributed to Marie Antoinette, the last queen before the French revolution. My project aims to physically embody the frivolous French extravagance through a lavishly decorated cake. The cake will represent all the classic characteristics of Rococo: pastel shades, jewel and ribbon embellishments, scrolling curves, dramatic ornamentation. Contrastingly, a gelatin structure will accompany the cake as a representation of the French revolution. Encased in the gelatin will be objects of violence and uprising: chains, sharp objects, weapons. Additionally, the gelatin cake will be decorated as an antithesis of Rococo, with metallic embellishments and a darker color palette. I want to create an effect of the era suspended in time, and gelatin is the medium that fulfills that.



Inspiration fig. 1: Cake structure by cracked.bolos on Instagram. 1 fig 2: All the Names (Season’s Greetings) by Liz Magor, 2016. Silicone rubber, paper, plastic. fig 3: Vintage gelatin ad from 1966 advertising a recipe for prunes in jell-o. fig 4: Source unknown on Pinterest. 2 34

Cakes are beginning to take on increasingly bizarre and unique forms: gone are neat stacks, smooth icing, and conservative decorations. Instead, many bakers are beginning to use cakes as an artistic medium; experimenting with non- traditional shapes, imperfect icing, and bizarre ornamentation. Funky color palettes and botanical decorations make cakes more visually appealing than ever before. 1 fig.1: joijoibakehouse_ on Instagram. 2 fig. 2: gigislittlekitchen on Instagram. fig. 3: yungkombucha420 on Instagram. fig. 4: Pinterest, source unknown. 43

Historical Context Marie Antoinette Austrian queen consort of King Louis XVI of France (1774–93). Her name is associated with the decline in the moral authority of the French monarchy in the closing years of the ancien régime, though her courtly extravagance was but a minor cause of the financial disorders of the French state in that period. Her rejection of reform provoked unrest, and her policy of court resistance to the progress of the French Revolution finally led to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792. Rococo Design Rococo style is characterized by elaborate ornamentation, asymmetrical values, pastel color palette, and curved or serpentine lines. Rococo art works often depict themes of love, classical myths, youth, and playfulness. The Rococo style began in France in the 1730s as a reaction against the more formal and geometric Louis XIV style. It was known as the “style Rocaille”, or “Rocaille style”. It soon spread to other parts of Europe, particularly northern Italy, Austria, southern Germany, Central Europe and Russia.

French Revolution: Regicide In the first phase of the war (April–September 1792), France suffered defeats; Prussia joined the war in July, and an Austro-Prussian army crossed the frontier and advanced rapidly toward Paris. Believing that they had been betrayed by the monarchy—indeed, France’s Austrian-born queen, Marie-Antoinette, had privately encouraged her brother, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, to invade France as a counterrevolutionary measure—the Paris revolutionaries rose on August 10, 1792. They occupied Tuileries Palace, where Louis XVI was living, and imprisoned the royal family in the Temple. At the beginning of September, the Parisian crowd broke into the prisons and massacred the nobles and clergy held there. Meanwhile, volunteers were pouring into the army as the Revolution had awakened French nationalism. In a final effort the French forces checked the Prussians on September 20, 1792, at Valmy. On the same day, a new assembly, the National Convention, met. The next day it proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic. Execution of Louis XIV