Dinner With America - Rajni Shah

America: how is a set of ideals, a country, a continent collapsed into one word?

In Dinner with America, British artist Rajni Shah explores this, addressing questions of racial, sexual and cultural identities and stereotypes through a combination of startling performance images and recorded vox pops.

A single figure transforms in a neon landscape - the Statue of Liberty, Marilyn Monroe, Wonder Woman, Britney Spears, and those less well recognised. This provocative and politically engaging performance draws on Rajni’s experiences both in this country and the United States, uncovering details of life in the USA and recognising the complexity present within this “America” which we all feel able, somehow, to own.

Rajni and her fellow performers lead you on a journey through extraordinary images of consumerism, rights, ownership, voices, hopes, harvest and division before a delightful finale in which you are invited to a shared feast with them. There is no regular seating and you are encouraged to sit, stand, sprawl or stroll around whilst the event unfolds before you.

Created during the Bush era, and coming to Wunderbar a year on from Obama’s historic election, Dinner with America asks: has anything really changed?