Cal Stalvig will contribute to NAFAS festival by bringing the ancient and sacred magic of candlelight. Fire has long been at the heart of human social, imaginative, and spiritual life, and candles extend the tradition of the hearth—the place where people gather, share food, tell stories, perform, and find warmth.
Sama Beydoun’s Mother Tongue is an ongoing photo-based project exploring memory, migration, and matriarchy through food. It began as a personal reflection after leaving Lebanon, documenting the relationship between generations of women in her family, and evolved into a broader investigation of transmission within the Lebanese diaspora.
NAFAS is both exhibition and gathering. Artists from Japan and elsewhere will present new and existing works, while the festival extends beyond the gallery through community-oriented events, performances, cooking classes, film screenings, musical concerts, and conversations.
In her book Fade, author Ryoko Sekiguchi examines a notion that has long been associated with cuisines unfamiliar to us. She shows that when we describe a food as "bland," we reveal less about the cuisine we are judging than about the limits of our own perception. From this observation, and without lapsing into the kind of fatalism that suggests "we can never truly understand," or that such understanding is "reserved for connoisseurs," Sekiguchi offers a hopeful perspective: to truly grasp a cuisine, we must first unlearn our own culinary "grammar" and approach it with the humility, but also the optimism, of someone learning an unfamiliar language.
「多くの物事と同様に、味や料理も、一度味わっただけで判断できるものではない（……）。新しい味や調理法、それまで知らなかった味の組み合わせ等に初めて出会うと、人はいつも戸惑ってしまう。それを表現する言葉が見つからないのだ。」著書『Fade(味気ない)』の中で、作家の関口涼子は、長い間、馴染みのない料理と結びつけられてきたこの概念に注目し、ある食べ物を「味気ない」と評することが、評価対象の料理そのものについてではなく、むしろ私たち自身の限界について物語っていることを明らかにします。この事実を踏まえ、「理解できない」とか「通だけのもの」といった一種の宿命論に陥ることなく、著者は希望に満ちた展望を提示します。ある料理の本質を捉えるためには、私たち自身の食の「文法」から脱却し、未知の言語を学ぶ者の持つ謙虚さ そして希望 を持って歩みを進める必要があるのです。
What do we really see when we look at animals in a zoo? Are we observing another species or are we confronting reflections of ourselves? Perhaps the zoo does not simply preserve the past of humanity, but reveals its present, and even hints at its future.
Emmanuel “Gus” Reckel is a baker, educator, and culinary artist who approaches food through wild fermentation, traditional nutrition, and hospitality. For Gus, food isn't just sustenance—it's a hands-on way to bring people together, share stories, and explore plant-based eating.
In this performance created for NAFAS Tokyo, Wakita Kizuku examines what becomes part of one's being—before, during, and after a meal—through the act of eating.
Omusubi can be a meal or a quick snack. A brand-new omusubi will be born, using flavors and textures connected to Japan, Brazil, and Egypt. This will be a time to make omusubi, eat together, and listen to the stories behind the rice and ingredients.
4.5 Ways of Appreciation by Yu Ohara is a performance that physically explores four approaches to the reception of art through tasting: the Japanese concepts of “鑑賞 kanshō,” “観照 kanshō,” and “賞玩 shōgan,” and the Chinese concept of “品鑑 pinjian.”
Join California-based artist Tara de la Garza for a hands-on workshop exploring the creative potential of discarded plastic bags and packaging. Tara’s artistic practice is dedicated to reimagining single-use plastics, transforming everyday waste into objects of beauty and reflection.
《SHIT》 is a workshop in which participants experience a series of steps: excreting, carbonizing the excrement, cooking it, and transforming it into bread, then eating it.
Takenoko Lab is an experimental performance designed around the concepts of bamboo as food, and bamboo woodwind instruments (shō, shakuhachi).This experimental event will allow participants to physically experience the process by which a single bamboo stalk transforms from a bamboo shoot (food) underground, to a musical instrument like the sho or shakuhachi above ground, and finally to sound produced by human breath.
In an age where words are constantly produced, consumed, and forgotten—where endless streams of information and artificial intelligence threaten to overwhelm our own voices, Words Eat Café Mizuumi invites visitors to slow down and savor language, one word at a time.
Neurodivergent Pickling proposes to invite neurodivergent gestures into the exhibition space. The process of making Persian pickles [Shoori شوری] turns into an endurance performance. This performance offers a reflection on culture and rituals. It points to cooking as a way to remain connected to one’s cultural roots and to the culture minoritarian individuals co-create - through the reinvention of pickle making as a neurodivergent ritual.
In this performance created for NAFAS Tokyo, Wakita Kizuku examines what becomes part of one's being—before, during, and after a meal—through the act of eating.
A series of dinners centered on that unavoidable work of American drama, that unstoppable generator of American Mythology, A Streetcar Named Desire. As we ponder the significance of the white-ribbed-tank top, Lucien Chef Ambition will serve dinner, actors will read scenes, and David Levine and Shonni Enelow will lead a discussion.
The exhibition includes large-scale photographs of Durchslag posing as each character, videos of her performing as these personas, and life-sized, fully costumed mannequins of all three figures, physically positioned to reflect their personalities and dynamics with one another. Collectively, the female trinity presented here forms a portrait of some of the most meaningful divisions and tensions present, amongst and between Ashkenazi Jews, in post-World War II life, from a place of joy and play.
The Invisible Dog and La MaMa Galleria are thrilled to invite for a conversation with Isaac Mizrahi, Danielle Durchslag & Negin Farsad, as part of JEWESS an exhibition by Danielle Durchslag.
Theophobia are brilliant and earnestly weird… If you've been a little bored of the art you've been seeing lately and you miss a sense of glam in your musicians, or you want to see a band who recently passed out celery during their set, check them out.
Walk through the exhibition JEWESS alongside artist Danielle Durchslag and curator Lucien Zayan in a special guided tour. They’ll share the stories behind the works — the ideas, the process, the happy accidents. Come curious. Leave inspired.
The exhibition includes large-scale photographs of Durchslag posing as each character, videos of her performing as these personas, and life-sized, fully costumed mannequins of all three figures, physically positioned to reflect their personalities and dynamics with one another. Collectively, the female trinity presented here forms a portrait of some of the most meaningful divisions and tensions present, amongst and between Ashkenazi Jews, in post-World War II life, from a place of joy and play.
The Invisible Dog (New York) and BUoY Arts Center (Tokyo) are launching a call to artists for NAFAS, a Tokyo month-long festival in September 2026 where art and food share the same table, and where audiences are invited to savor multiple artistic propositions.
On the occasion of the exhibition of artists and the collection of The Invisible Dog at Hashimoto Contemporary, Lucien Zayan, Director of The Invisible Dog and Chef at SAM, invites you to a Sunday brunch at La Salle A Manger (SAM) to enjoy new recipes surrounded by The Invisible Dog's art collection.
The Invisible Dog and Hashimoto Contemporary are thrilled to present a group exhibition featuring artists and the collection of The Invisible Dog, co-curated by Lucien Zayan, founder-director of The Invisible Dog and Risa Shoup.
Ideas don’t belong to a place. They are never rooted, only found, and belong only to the mind that’s willing to see and embrace them…
The Invisible Dog and JBE Books are thrilled to present a conversation for the launch of the english version of “Not Ads Please” by author Rémi Babinet.
Rémi Babinet, a leading figure in advertising, shares a one-of-a-kind take on creative leadership. Founder and Chairman of BETC, he juggles the pressures of business with the sensitivities of art, shaping his company as a creative project in itself rooted in exchange, and everything that flows from it. Each page tries to sneak a bit of wisdom, depth, and mischief into the fast-spinning world of modern communication.
The Invisible Dog and The Scion Project are thrilled to invite you for a special fundraising brunch. On October 27, 2025, Lucien Zayan, founder / Director of The Invisible Dog turns 60! To mark the occasion, Lucien (Chef Ambition) is whipping up a one-of-a-kind brunch to toast this diamond jubilee and raise funds for The Invisible Dog’s 17th season.
The Invisible Dog and Atelier Jolie are thrilled to present a series of works by Mari Katayama and to host a talk with the artist.
R. Justin Stewart’s work explores the interplay between material, system, and perception. He often works with felt, a medium that is paradoxically both soft and hard, using it as a central element in his practice. Through carefully designed systems, he generates emergent patterns whose visual appearance resists immediate comprehension. These patterns invite viewers into a state of curiosity, echoing the experience of encountering complex systems in the world—forces that quietly shape our lives yet remain largely invisible.
The Invisibe Dog and The Scion Project are thrilled to present a series of painting by artist Megan Berk.
Megan Berk is a painter whose practice unfolds through distinct series, each rooted in deeply personal observation. Driven by both seduction and anxiety, her work translates private impulses into formal explorations of shape, light, and color.
The Invisible Dog is proud and thrilled to announce a collaboration at Le Moulin Jaune with choreographer Thierry Thieû Niang.
The Invisible Dog is proud and thrilled to announce a collaboration with director Mohamed El Khatib and Collection Lambert in Avignon (France)
Step into the sun-drenched haven of La Salle à Manger in Brooklyn for an unforgettable luncheon, meticulously crafted by Chef Lucien.
This isn't just a meal; it's an immersive journey into the heart of spring and summer, where every dish sings with the joy of the season. Chef Lucien's commitment to organic, locally sourced ingredients shines through, creating a menu that is as wholesome as it is exquisite. Imagine vibrant salads bursting with edible flowers, delicate preparations infused with the freshest herbs, and flavors that evoke warm breezes and endless days.
The Invisible Dog is thrilled to present a series of workshop animated by Halsey Chait at Atelier Jolie
The Invisible Dog and Eat Offbeat are thrilled to welcome Moroccan Chef Rkia for a special Tagine lunch at Atelier Jolie, as part of New York Arab Festival.
Chef Rkia discovered her love for cooking in her mom's kitchen in Rabat, Morocco. She began her professional journey in Qatar, working at the Qatari Ambassador's residence. Then, she travelled and cooked in South Korea, India, France and Thailand.
Dedicated to the legacy of famed Moroccan visual artist and playwright Ahmed Yacoubi, ‘The Alchemist’s Recipes” comes as the closing event of New York Arab Festival this year, presented in partnership with The Invisible Dog at Atelier Jolie, and co-curated by New York based curators and theorists Sozita Goudona, and Adham Hafez.
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In his signature blend of humor and surrealism, Morrison transforms familiar baked goods, fruits, vegetables, and other everyday foods into uncanny dog-like forms. Over the past four years, he has developed a playful visual language of “food dogs,” and this show debuts twelve new additions to the growing pack.
The Invisible Dog is thrilled to welcome Halsey Chait, guest artists at Atelier Jolie.
For the duration of this residency, a single basement room at Atelier Jolie will be transformed by Halsey Chait into a living, breathing art space—part personal studio, part open workshop, entirely devoted to the alchemical process of creation. Rooted in her practice as a pen and ink artist, the studio becomes a site of deep reflection and expansive, collective imagination.
Algorithmic Perfumery is the world's first AI guided scent creation platform to explore your world of scent. From creating personalized scents, to customizing creations from our in-house Library, to diving deeper into the creative process with a workshop or scent coach session, it's all possible.
This one-time, site-specific sequence of happenings is a tribute to Iranian and Afghan women whose audacious emotions have fueled the force of rebellion through millennia. In three consecutive performance workshops, each two hours long, we will slow down—physically, emotionally, and very, very literally—while continuing to move.
The Invisible Dog began as a flea market in 2009 — and now, 16 years later, we’re ending where we started.
For this Artists at Work, ISCP artist-in-residence Jude Griebel will be joined by cultural producer and curator Lucien Zayan. Griebel and Zayan share an interest in food traditions and the ways that meals foster connection and community.
The Invisible Dog is thrilled to welcome Jen Rosenblit and Simone Aughterlony. As part of the research for their performance work The Dumps, and as an extension of their Technical Residency at the Center for Performance Research Simone Aughterlony and Jen Rosenblit organize In Our Decline, a symposium aroused by an urgent and necessary un-doing of things – aging, un-worlding, decay, ruination, and collapse.
The Invisible Dog is thrilled to welcome Jen Rosenbilt and Simone Aughterlony in residency March 17-21, followed by a symposium open to the public on March 22nd.
The Invisible Dog is thrilled to welcome Raja Feather Kelly and his performance BUNNY BUNNY
Written, Directed and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, BUNNY BUNNY is an ensemble Devised danced-theatre production and installation exploring desire and surveillance.
This is a fictional story based on the real-life events of six bunny rabbits who are stuck in a house. They work together, and have their lives taped and find out what happens when bunnies stop being polite and start getting real. Reality TV meets, McCarthyism, meets the human condition in imagined and anthropomorphic realities.
