Mom's Cookies

“Mom’s Cookies” is a silent two-channel video projection that commemorates the St. Anthony Falls area of the Mississippi River as the birthplace of modern packaged foods. The Falls provided the power for the first Minnesota flour mills, which eventually became General Mills, the corporate food conglomerate which invented Bisquick, the first pre-mixed food available on the grocery story shelves.

“Mom’s Cookies” reminds viewers of the history of the mills and their innovations in flour production, and their importance to contemporary modes of food consumption. The project also plays on our nostalgia and mythology about mothers and grandmothers baking magical frosted delights in the kitchen. Home cooked meals represent our greatest desire for comfort and security. “Mom’s Cookies” asks the viewer to contemplate the technological innovations that took place at this site of natural wonder and power, and the depth of the social and economic changes they brought to our society.

2 channel video projection, 2012, 28 minute loop

View video documentation (5:09 running time)