Ambiguous Standards of Food: Eggs and Holders

Ambiguous Standards of Food: Eggs and Holders
The food industry has developed metrics to classify and put a value on different foods according to criteria such as shape, size, weight, color, and firmness—though, peculiarly, never taste. These metrics also determine the foods’ packaging, transportation, and consumption.

A range of different birds’ eggs in this crate demonstrates the variability of nature’s standards in comparison to the complex industry matrix of chicken eggs. The standards of commercial chicken eggs are strictly regulated. As a result, the majority of chicken eggs, ranging from tiny (fart) to extra-large eggs with various colors from light to dark, red and chocolate brown, do not qualify for commercial sale.

Contents (in ascending size): first row: zebra finch, cockatiel, quail, partridge, unspecified chicken, frizzle chicken, Sultan chicken, Silkie chicken, Ameraucana chicken, Ayam Cemani chicken, Sussex chicken;
second row: quail, Wyandotte chicken, Fayoumi chicken, Guineafowl, Marans chicken, Plymouth chicken,

Araucana chicken, Brahma chicken, Barnevelder chicken; third row: pigeon; unspecified chicken; Plymouth chicken; New Hampshire chicken; Plymouth chicken; Ameraucana chicken; Sulmtaler chicken; unspecified chicken; unspecified chicken;
fourth row: goose, unspecified chicken, guineafowl, Sulmtaler chicken, duck, unspecified chicken, unspecified chicken, Marans chicken, turkey, ostrich.

Date: 2018-20

Artist: Cansu Cürgen (Turkish, born 1988), Avşar Gürpınar (Turkish, born 1982), Ambiguous Standards Institute (Turkish, founded 2014)

ABOUT THIS ARTWORK

Artist: Ambiguous Standards Institute (Designer)

Title: Ambiguous Standards of Food: Eggs and Holders

Place: Turkey (Artist's culture:)

Date: Made 2018–2020

Medium: Beechwood, styrofoam, metal spun egg holders, and various eggs

Dimensions: Open: 78.1 × 108.6 × 70.5 cm (30 3/4 × 42 3/4 × 27 3/4 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Ambiguous Standards Institute

Reference Number: 2021.55