In the spring of 2009, Helen Reed, Jen Kovach and I created ‘Mystic Pizza’ at the Signal and Noise Media Festival in Vancouver.  We opened a pizza parlor and made all of our own pizza.  For four dollars, festival attendees could get a piece of pizza and have their crust read through pizza divination.

Related events and exhibitions:
Signal and Noise Media Art Festival, VIVO, Vancouver, BC, 2009.  Curated by Amy Kazymerchyk.
Total Eclipse of the Art, Access Gallery, February 2011.

Related Reviews and Publications:
Mundell, Mel.  ‘Signal and Noise’ Discorder Magazine, June 29, 2009. http://discorder.ca/discorder-magazine/index.php/2009/06/29/signal-noise/

More text:
“The Mystic Pizza Occult Snack Den ambient room supplied Signal & Noise goers with an amber-lit refuge, as well as mystic healing. There were three pizza choices, including a Julia Roberts variety in honour of her role in the installation’s namesake film, Mystic Pizza. This installation filled VIVO with the alluring aroma of pies magically produced by the Canadian born, but Portland-based artist couple, Helen Reed and Hannah Miami.
  According Reed, through the use of the “divine,” psychic clues could be found in a patron’s crusts and crumbs—all to the tune of a mystical mix-tape, which included darkwave artist Diamanda Galas.
Patrons sat at one of three small round tables. The positioning of the crusts and crumbs on the plate, the crumb to crust ratio, the directional relationship between pizza eater and pizza, all inform the artist’s psychic script. The pizza partners divined my crust by shaking up my plate’s crumbs to the rhythms of an undisclosed question with impressive accuracy and attention at the end of a busy mystic-pie filled weekend—and all for a mere four dollars (including the vegan slice). It was, in truth, a mini-therapy session and nourishment for the body, spirit and eye.”

-Mel Mundell, Discorder Magazine, Vancouver, BC.