Coffee 2024

Summary

This ceramic artwork of a cup of coffee was made by Kenny Pittock for the 2025 City Gallery exhibition 'The Dirty Dozen'. Curated by award-winning food writer and author Richard Cornish, the exhibition delved into the sometimes-dark, often-uplifting stories behind street food, produce markets and the dining habits of the 19th-century elite. The twelve ceramic artworks produced by Pittock bring to life 12 quintessential Melbourne street foods. All look good enough to eat.

"Melbourne has always been obsessed with coffee. During the 1850s, vendors would push coffee carts around the streets, pouring brewed coffee from great kettles with copper spouts. With vending operating late into the night, coffee carts perhaps inevitably became associated with lewd and lascivious nocturnal behaviour. In response, Melbourne Town Council restricted the hours that coffee vendors could trade. Melburnians’ attitude to coffee shifted towards the end of the 19th century, with the temperance movement promoting coffee as a stimulating but non-intoxicating drink. Mainly in the 1880s, majestic multi-storey coffee palaces were built, including the Grand Coffee Palace, now the Windsor Hotel. After WWII, immigration saw Italian migrants set up cafés, bringing with them modern Italian coffee-making technology, such as espresso machines. Again, coffee came under social scrutiny. This time, fears were raised about young women drinking coffee with well-dressed Italian men." - Richard Cornish, 'The Dirty Dozen' exhibition catalogue