flüstergewürz

the project's collaborators are my mother, a number of her friends, the city of nuremberg, and potentially matthias dachwald, curator at the kunsthalle nuremberg. the invented name of the project may be translated as "a spice that makes one whisper".

i have been making variations of a recipe for nuernberger lebkuchen, a type of gingerbread originally made 1395 in a bakery near the hauptmarkt - or so the story goes. nuremberg was one of the most northern cities on the extensions of the silk routes; bakers had access to spices from asia through nuremberg's role as a trade center in the middle ages. in this sense, nuremberg has been part of globalization very early on.

for now i've been working mostly with my mom; her friends will help to bake my version of nuremberg gingerbread as a commodity to trade stories for food. i intend to find people who agree to add to nuremberg's chronicles with their own stories and anecdotes related to nuremberg's town square, which i will record. i hope that matthias dachwald accepts that one of his roles in this project will be to act as a mediator between the city of nuremberg's administration officials and me.

this is an advertisement for commercially made nuernberger lebkuchen mailed to my parents. it features the typical shapes the cookies come in: circles, hearts, stars, squares covered with sugar and chocolate frosting.it promotes the company's worldwide delivery service and affirms that the goods are packed "fresh out of the oven" (ofenfrisch verpackt) and sent immediately "on their journey" (auf die Reise).