What Grows? is the first piece of a long-term participatory mural project, titled After the Fire, initiated in 2020 by MoMA PS1 with artists Nanibah Chacon (Dinè and Chicana, b. 1980), Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (Persian and Black American, b. 1985), and Layqa Nuna Yawar (Runakuna, Ecuadorian, North American, b. 1984).

From the start of his practice, a critical material for Rirkrit Tiravanija (Thai, b. 1961) has been the presence of “a lot of people”—a purposefully broad and expansive term that stands as an open invitation to everyone and anyone, present and future. His largest exhibition to date, Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE traces four decades of the artist’s career and features over 100 works, from early experimentations with installation and film, to works on paper, photographs, ephemera, sculptures, and newly produced “plays” of key participatory pieces.

For his exhibition A LOT OF PEOPLE, Rirkrit Tiravanija (Thai, b. 1961) stages five interactive artworks as a series of plays. Untitled 1990 (pad thai) presents a 1990 work in which Tiravanija cooked and served pad thai at the opening of his solo exhibition in the project space of New York’s Paula Allen Gallery. Through untitled 1990 (pad thai) and other related works that the artist has termed “situations,” Tiravanija has become known for incorporating Thai culinary customs and ingredients into his work, as well as for challenging social codes and attitudes around the sanctity of the art object. “I have, more or less, used the kitchen and cooking as the base from which to conduct an assault on the cultural aesthetics of Western attitudes toward life and living,” he says. “In the communal act of cooking and eating together, I hope that it is possible to cross physical and imaginary boundaries.”

Join us to celebrate the opening of Rirkrit Tiravanija: A LOT OF PEOPLE and experience the full range of the artist’s interactive works for one day only. The artist’s largest survey to date, the exhibition includes installations, sculptures, films, works on paper, photographs, and interactive artworks, several of which will be presented throughout the day. Play ping-pong, enjoy pad thai, then sip herbal tea and Turkish coffee—the entire event is free and open to the public.