Salt Trade, 2015 – photos by William Eakin

: RAW:almond pop-up restaurant on the fork of the Red and Assiniboine river, Winnipeg, 2015

: Salt Trade – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – E. Finnigan pouring salt on boats, February 12, 2015

: Salt trade, detail – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt trade, detail – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt trade, detail – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – noon, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – evening, February 12, 2015

: Salt Trade – evening, February 12, 2015

: RAWalmond deconstruction, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Salt Trade, detail – sunset, February 13, 2015

: Skating trail on river – sunset, February 2015

: Elvira Finnigan, artist, and Joe Kalturnyk, direstor RAW gallery, February 13, 2015

: Terry McLeod of CBC radio speaking with Elvira Finnigan, February 13, 2015

Salt Trade installation – February, 2015

: RAW:almond pop-up restaurant, 2015

: Salt Trade installation opening, noon, February 12, 2015 – photo by Bruce Spielman.

: Salt Trade installation, 10 pm, February 12

: Salt Trade Installation, 4 pm February 13

Salt Trade – an experimental art installation by Elvira Finnigan

RAW/almond pop-up restaurant

The Forks, Winnipeg

begins February 12, 2015 – noon

Salt Trade, a new experimental art installation by Elvira Finnigan pays homage to the early fur trade at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers in Winnipeg. Constructed from salt, ice and fur, Salt Trade evolves from the interaction and deterioration of these elements.

Commissioned by RAW gallery, Salt Trade begins February 12, the last day of the RAW/almond pop-up restaurant on the frozen river at the Forks. Guests will witness the deterioration of ice forms loaded with salt as the installation progresses.

As the restaurant structure is dismantled around it, Salt Trade will remain in place for a few days depending on climate conditions. Weather permitting; the installation will be left out on the ice to be shaped by wind and snow and to be viewed by the public using the river skating trail.

Aftermath … the end

Aftermath continues …

Aftermath begins

When the feast was over, all the dishes, glasses and serving bowls with their leftovers were filled to the brim with a dense salt brine. The table was then allowed to sit untouched for two months. The salt crystallization took over and created salt encrusted dishes, and seeped onto the table around them.

Time lapse animation – Feast 12.12.12

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In the Press

Party’s over
“Elvira Finnigan uses table scraps and table salt to create a (slowly) moving meditation on impermanence and preservation”
By Steven Leyden Cochrane in the Winnipeg Free Press, January 3, 2013

Installation leaves best kind of sour taste
“Artist used salt to transform dinner party setting at CCFM exhibit”
By Simon Fuller in The Lance, January 9, 2013

Feast 12.12.12

The feast 12.12.12 was hosted and performed by the Collectif Post-néo-rielistes, a group of Franco-Manitoban writers at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The writers took turns reading excerpts of their work throughout the evening and left their papers along with the leftovers of their dinner on the table. At the end of the evening, Elvira Finnigan filled all the dishes and glasses to the brim with a dense salt brine. The table will now sit undisturbed for two months.