Robin Whitehouse

Exhibition	'Vol.1: The Catch'
with	Todor Rabadzhiyski
at	Club Laak, Den Haag, NL
Year	2021

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Our initial interest for this collaborative project came from the way the lobster has established a status beyond its appreciation as a delicacy in cuisine. Now lobsters are percieved on a stage next to champagne, high class celebration and referenced within rap culture, hence the title of our project, “Lobster and shrimp on my plate, I want my pockets so fat they inflate” lyrics from Cvii feat. TwistBoi (2020).

Exhibition	'Vol.2: The Market'
with	Todor Rabadzhiyski
at	Trixie, Den Haag, NL
Year	2022

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For the second chapter of the project, we staged a performative act taking place in the setting of a fish market. Large industrial metal tables were constantly being replenished with ice and were the stand for the exchange of the porcelain lobsters. The audience was invited to select lobsters and purchase them based on their specific weight. By this act, we put the lobster into a view of consideration where it begins to stand between the already commodified sea creatures and a sculptural object, the juxtaposition of the fish market within the gallery was again looking at disconnecting the lobster from the reality of consumption.

Exhibition	'Vol.3: Transportation'
with	Todor Rabadzhiyski
at	Swimming Pool Projects, Sofia, BG
Year	2024
Photographer	Yana Lozeva

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The artists looked at how the lobster has been reinvented through the ages, considering how marketing has portrayed a certain image of the lobster that is becoming an analogy for the current time. Plastic fish boxes were collected by the artists from ports in The Netherlands into which their aluminum lobsters were packed and trans- ported across Europe in the back of vans. For the occasion of the exhibition, 50 kg of lobster remains from a high class seafood restaurant in The Netherlands were displayed at the gallery. First frozen in the artists’ studio, they were then bundled into suitcases and flown together with The artists to Sofia. During the opening The lobster remains were used to produce a lobster Bisque.

Exhibition	'Vol.4: Back of the Kitchen'
with	Todor Rabadzhiyski
at	Dürst Britt & Mayhew, The Hague, NL
Year	2026
Photographer	G.J. van Rooij

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In the fourth showcase (Vol. 4: Back of the Kitchen) of their ongoing project the artists look specifically at the moment the lobster enters the restaurant kitchen, tracing the transformation of a sea creature into a symbol of status and celebration. Thereto they have transformed the Frontspace of the gallery into the back of a kitchen, framed from the artists' own roles during spells of time working at Bistro-mer, a renowned seafood restaurant in The Hague.