myMESSeMUSEum

CONFLICT AS A JUMPING-OFF POINT FOR CREATIVITY | Bill Peduto for Pittsburgh When artist Jon Rubin moved to Pittsburgh in 2006 to teach at Carnegie Mellon University, he decided to experiment with some of the local materials: cheap real estate and good people. “Midwestern culture values openness and community engagement,” he observes. Three years ago, he rented a storefront in the city’s emerging East Liberty district for $500 a month and opened Waffle Shop, a place where hip locals can enjoy breakfast fare at all hours while participating in Web-streamed talk shows covering topics from “Michael Jackson and Teabaggers” to “Dolphin Breeding in Appalachia.” The following year Rubin and artist Dawn Weleski turned the space next door into Conflict Kitchen, whose rotating menu draws from countries that the U.S. government has a political beef with—like Iran or Venezuela—helping expand the community’s culinary and cultural consciousness. As Rubin says: “We’re creating the place where we want to live now.” Bolani at Conflict Kitchen, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from claramichelle’s photostream The Los Angeles Times has also recently come out with an in depth piece on Conflict Kitchen. The restaurant not only serves food from countries with which the U.S. is in conflict, it is designed to be a jumping-off point for conversation: