A date on a label was never a deadline, only a suggestion. It tells us when something is at its best, and says almost nothing about what comes after: fermenting, softening, sweetening, becoming something else.

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Best Before takes ripeness as a way of keeping time. Painting, installation and performance gather in the blurred interval between ripe and expired.

Alongside, a table is laid. Invited food artists will set their pieces here to be looked at, smelled, and eaten. Visitors are invited to sit down and reach across. Part of this exhibition is only complete once it has been consumed.

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Spoilage here is not an accusation. What we celebrate is what is still becoming: fruit is sweetest just before it turns; a gathering changes as people come and go; the best part of a meal is often the part nobody planned. Best Before is less interested in when the date runs out than in how we spend it together.

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not only the sugar, but the days

 – Li-Young Lee, From Blossoms