John Knight's 'Cold Cuts' Exposes US Imperialism Through Design and Gastronomy

In 'Cold Cuts' at Espai d'art contemporani de Castelló, Spain, California Conceptualist John Knight critiques US foreign policy since the 1950s using a design-inflected, self-critical language. The exhibition, curated by Michele Lachowsky and Joel Benzakin, features a two-dimensional pattern of colorful vinyl pentagons affixed to floors and walls, containing images and texts that link gastronomy, exoticism, and US imperialism. Knight's installation alludes to the Pentagon building's layers, exposing repressed histories of US interventions. The show is divided into two acts: the exhibition itself functions as an advertisement for an artist's book—a recipe book with chapters titled after US military operations (e.g., Ninotchka, Ajax, Success), offering traditional dishes from affected countries alongside quotes from US politicians. Knight inverts the conventional catalogue-exhibition relationship, using 'over-design' to critique capitalist systems and the art world's production modes. His work references earlier projects like 'Journals' (1978), 'JK' (1982), 'Museotypes' (1983), and 'Federal Style' (1989). The artist emphasizes 'use value' and collective culture over visual spectacle, proposing slowness and deferred experience as alternatives to market-driven art. Knight's critique extends to questioning the fetishism of commodities and the artwork's role as a public good, refusing to be consumed by capitalism's predatory gaze.