FESTIVAL THEATRE | Hunt & Darton
CAFÉ CULTURE
Catherine Love chats to live art duo Hunt and Darton about their pop-up café installation where the audience become part of the performance
82 THE LIST FESTIVAL 1–8 Aug 2013
G o looking for a snack in Edinburgh city centre during August and you might just stumble upon some unexpected art. For a second year, live art duo Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton are offering festivalgoers food for the stomach and the eyes at the Hunt & Darton Café, their unique pop-up installation on St Mary’s Street.
The idea behind it, Darton explains, was that ‘a passerby might just come in wanting a simple cup of tea and a cake and before they knew it they were involved in the installation’. The café i rst opened in Cambridge in April 2012 as part of the Cultural Olympiad and has since visited Edinburgh and East London. The pop-up venue will be back at the Fringe this year, offering the addition of a bar in the evenings and an expanded programme of performances. ‘It became much more political than we realised,’ says Hunt, describing how the café unexpectedly transformed into an alternative, artist-led venue on the Fringe. In 2012, the pair was amazed by the huge response from artists looking for somewhere new to present their