Temporary Gallery. Center for Contemporary Art in Cologne is not only an institution, but also a network. In this series, we want to introduce you to the people who are involved in our work and make the realization of our projects possible. Today we introduce you to Paula Erstmann.

Interview and editing: Nelly Gawellek
June 2025

Dear Paula, you are an artist and your medium is food. What was the last meal you prepared for yourself?

I went to the market yesterday and did some shopping for a project. They had really fresh broad beans and fresh onions. I ate them last night and it tasted like summer. I love shopping at weekly markets and being surprised by what's ripe in the region. When I travel for projects, my first stop is always the market, because it tells you so much about the region and the season.

How did you get into your profession and your very special interest in food as a form of expression?

I started cooking at an early age because I had a food allergy as a teenager and cooking for myself became essential for me. After leaving school, however, I decided against training as a chef and opted to study art. Nevertheless, I never let go of cooking. During my studies, I started cooking at exhibitions and graduated with a cookbook and a dinner. Maybe I'm still a designer today, but my medium is food.

What is particularly important to you in your work?

Coming together, sharing and discovering, joining in and participating. I believe that eating in art can open up a completely different level of sensory experience, i.e. what happens to the eaters, how they experience the food and what memories, conversations and connections arise as a result. For me, eating as an artistic practice is inextricably linked to sharing—it always arises in dialog with others.

You have already accompanied several projects in the Temporary Gallery. Were there any particular situations or highlights that have stuck in your mind?

Definitely the Temporary Kitchen, which I developed together with Lisa Alice Klosterkötter and which we used particularly intensively in the summer of 2023 and continue to activate to this day. The mobile kitchen is a place to come together that is not tied to the interior of the Temporary Gallery, but can wander into the public space and invites neighbors, passers-by and interested parties to participate, cook, think and eat together. We have already cooked and eaten on various topics and with various cooperation partners and I am already looking forward to upcoming events.

You live in Berlin. What do you associate with Cologne and the Temporary Gallery?

For me, Cologne is a place for making art together. I got to know the city through participating in exhibitions and especially through organizing food and celebrating artists' parties. The Temporary Gallery is a very central place for me that provides space for formats of coming together, exchanging ideas, testing and getting into action. A place that makes things possible.

What are you currently doing outside of work? Do you have a favorite series or a reading recommendation?

In the end, almost everything revolves around food for me—even when I'm reading and watching. The regionality and seasonality of the food I use is becoming increasingly important to me. I find everything to do with foraging—collecting and preparing wild herbs and plants—exciting. There are so many videos, websites and accounts dedicated to this. I've also worked with Jasmine Parsley (Instagram: @jasmineprsly), an artist who does exciting performative walks, and I recently discovered lots of great recipes for spruce tips and pine cones here.