Mass Action: 137 Cakes in 90 Hours

By Sharne Wolff

Remember the smell of freshly baked afternoon tea wafting down nan’s hallway? Or that first bite of soft white sponge cake filled with strawberry jam and fresh cream? In this one-off performance as part of Halls for Hire – a season of site-specific performance and installation presented by Performance Space – the artists from Brown Council (Frances Barrett, Kate Blackmore, Kelly Doley and Diana Smith) will spend four sleepless days attempting 137 recipes. They’ll be baking from Jam Drops and Marble Cake, a book released this year to celebrate 60 years of cooking competition hosted by the Country Women’s’ Association of NSW.

The CWA was founded in 1922 and has a proud history of representing and supporting women, especially those in rural areas, through the trials and tribulations of domestic life. Brown Council intend to honour female resilience and endurance, and to test their own, with this fabulous and fantastical performance set right in the heart of the city. They’ll be cooking at the CWA headquarters at Potts Point – a charming but quirky building that for many decades has represented a home away from home for thousands of country women and their families. From peach blossom cake to Anzac biscuits, from raspberry slice to pikelets, the artists will conjure up the taste of nostalgia in a tournament to end all bake-offs.

28 August to 1 Sept 2012

CWA Headquarters, 11 Greenknowe St, Potts Point.

http://www.performancespace.com.au/2012/mass-action/