Culinaria Dinner: Fernanda D’Agostino and Carlo LaMagna (Clyde Common, Magna)
Curated by Blake Shell
Beverages by Leah Brown of Angel Face
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Seatings for 30 people at 6pm and 8pm
Photos by Sam Gehrke
Fernanda D’Agostino’s Decameron (Borderline) takes its inspiration from Boccaccio’s medieval novella, in which a group of ten young people leave the terrors of plague-ravaged Florence for an escape to the countryside. Each night, every member of the party told a story centered around a chosen theme. The video installation sets a dark, but dreamlike stage for a dinner where guests will be led in an evening of feasting, storytelling, and questioning. Inspired by her grandmother’s weekly lunches open to all, D’Agostino hopes to create an environment for radical sharing around food and the pleasures of the table. Chef Carlo LaMagna, of Clyde Common and the soon to open Magna, will prepare a meal for diners inside the installation to share as they share stories. LaMagna is known for his Filipino fusion meals. His inspiration comes from his professional culinary experiences, but more so from his father and mother who raised him to be in touch with their culture and to learn to farm, cook, and eat holistically.
Nanda D’Agostino’s work has been commissioned and displayed internationally and nationally in traditional venues such as film festivals and museums and in non-traditional public spaces. Her work acknowledges the viewer as an active participant within prepared, responsive environments that incorporate architecture, sculpture, and interactive sound and video.
Philippines-born Carlo Lamagna’s personal mission is to amplify and elevate Filipino cuisine in Portland and beyond. Mentored early in his career by Master Chef Brian Beland at Country Club of Detroit and later by Thomas Keller, Lamagna went on to work at Chicago’s North Pond before practicing charcuterie in Germany and country cooking in Lyon, France. He then spent two years at Perennial with Paul Virant, before moving to Portland to be the executive chef of Nate Tilden’s Clyde Common. During his three-year tenure, Lamagna started a side project called Twisted Filipino, and in 2017, LaMagna and Tilden launched Magna – the first restaurant with a progressive Filipino menu in Portland.