Food sells twice, first as ingredient, then as gift. About the project Jim Rossiter writes, “Halifax police are investigating the mysterious case of the sugar cookies smuggled onto shelves in four Halifax Sobeys supermarkets yester­day. John Keizer,
       
     
"We're not sure what they are. They're not made by Sobeys, not authorized by Sobeys and not produced by Sobeys." John Keizer said. An employee spotted the cookies yesterday morning. With the brand name Words, they were shaped as letter "wrapped in c
       
     
Delicious not malicious response to the concept of a mistake, with the humble sugar cookie, that everyone can make. A counter-media tactic inspired by the artists Bruce Nauman (Words, 1970) and Sandy Plotnikoff (Bun Bun, 1994), is scaled up to an ed
       
     
‘Every undistorted relationship,’ writes Theodor Adorno, ‘is a gift.’ A surprise that interrupts a routine is a private moment designed for an unassuming audience, meant to be discovered in public, without pretense, and documented by the paper of re
       
     
“The story of Halifax's mystery sugar cook­ies just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Halifax police say they have "discounted" a newspaper story suggesting the cookie caper was a piece of art by a former student or the Nova Scotia School of Art
       
     
“Ex-art students’ cookie caper half-baked, police say” is one of twelve headlines reproduced to scale, in the context of their original pages. Of the project staff reporter for The Mail Star report, “Some call it art, others call it mischief. Offici
       
     
Food sells twice, first as ingredient, then as gift. About the project Jim Rossiter writes, “Halifax police are investigating the mysterious case of the sugar cookies smuggled onto shelves in four Halifax Sobeys supermarkets yester­day. John Keizer,
       
     
+

Food sells twice, first as ingredient, then as gift. About the project Jim Rossiter writes, “Halifax police are investigating the mysterious case of the sugar cookies smuggled onto shelves in four Halifax Sobeys supermarkets yester­day. John Keizer, manager of corporate affairs for Sobeys, urged shoppers who bought the cookies to return them to Sobeys or hand them to police. He said Sobeys round the cookies in stores on Windsor and Queen streets and In the Halifax Shopping Centre and West End Mall. They were pulled from the shelves.” Of the 50 packages placed in five stores, 22 were found. Given media coverage of the OJ Simpson Trial, some were placed in proximity to the orange juice.

"We're not sure what they are. They're not made by Sobeys, not authorized by Sobeys and not produced by Sobeys." John Keizer said. An employee spotted the cookies yesterday morning. With the brand name Words, they were shaped as letter "wrapped in c
       
     
+

"We're not sure what they are. They're not made by Sobeys, not authorized by Sobeys and not produced by Sobeys." John Keizer said. An employee spotted the cookies yesterday morning. With the brand name Words, they were shaped as letter "wrapped in cellophane and on a plastic tray with a bar code. He said Sobeys retrieved 22 packages, with a minimum or six cookies each. He didn't know if anyone bought the $1.99 packets. Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Spearns said police have received no indication the cookies were poisoned, but Health and Welfare Canada is analyzing them. "It’s a priority so the results will be avail­able as soon as possible." Keizer said the Stellarton based grocery chain will ask all stores in the Maratimes to check their shelves today.

Delicious not malicious response to the concept of a mistake, with the humble sugar cookie, that everyone can make. A counter-media tactic inspired by the artists Bruce Nauman (Words, 1970) and Sandy Plotnikoff (Bun Bun, 1994), is scaled up to an ed
       
     
+

Delicious not malicious response to the concept of a mistake, with the humble sugar cookie, that everyone can make. A counter-media tactic inspired by the artists Bruce Nauman (Words, 1970) and Sandy Plotnikoff (Bun Bun, 1994), is scaled up to an edition of 50 for the public good, wrapped in cellophane and pink styrofoam trays marked with a functioning barcode produced with the assistance from Marta Swannie for display on shelves of five grocery stores and sold, as a generous surprise. Materials including eggs, milk, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla, celophane and pink trays passed through the checkout counter twice, first an ingredient, then as art.

‘Every undistorted relationship,’ writes Theodor Adorno, ‘is a gift.’ A surprise that interrupts a routine is a private moment designed for an unassuming audience, meant to be discovered in public, without pretense, and documented by the paper of re
       
     
+

‘Every undistorted relationship,’ writes Theodor Adorno, ‘is a gift.’ A surprise that interrupts a routine is a private moment designed for an unassuming audience, meant to be discovered in public, without pretense, and documented by the paper of record. Constable John Parkin of the Halifax Police Department puts it this way. “That it’s just something we don’t expect and whenever we see something that is unexpected, even if it’s not aggressive, it’s perceived as aggressive. Depending on what the evidence is, the (most) minor charge would be mischief,” said Const. John Parkin. While the cookie caper seems innocent, police say such pranks are serious because they disrupt store operations and bring unwanted publicity. The public becomes anxious and the police and health officials waste valuable testing and investigating time. “We have no idea what’s in those cookies when we find them” said Const. Parkin. “Unfamiliar food packages haven’t been screened by the store or government agencies and must be removed and tested. Police confirmed Thursday that samples from three batches of cookies showed only traces of normal ingredients. The results from two other batches - taken from the Quinpool Road IGA and the West End Mall Sobeys - were expected Friday.” The cookies spelled out the word ’words’ in fancy lettering. Some displayed by police had crumbled. [continued from /A1, Cookie Caper Annoys Police, Halifax Herald: July 23, 1994 ]

“The story of Halifax's mystery sugar cook­ies just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Halifax police say they have "discounted" a newspaper story suggesting the cookie caper was a piece of art by a former student or the Nova Scotia School of Art
       
     
+

“The story of Halifax's mystery sugar cook­ies just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Halifax police say they have "discounted" a newspaper story suggesting the cookie caper was a piece of art by a former student or the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design. "After checking with NSCAD, we have no suspects. We can't make any comment on why they released that information to the Herald, because we do not find it accurate," said Const. Gary Parkin. Packages of cookies spelling "words" were found in four Sobeys stores and one IGA Tuesday. Health Canada testing showed the cookies contained no poisons. Police are still trying to learn who smug­gled them into the markets. Yesterday's Halifax Herald Ltd. papers quote 'NSCAD dean Scott MacDougall. MacDougall told The Daily News yesterday he was just speculating. The statement was made in a letter he sent to a Herald reporter who had asked if a NSCAD student was involved, MacDougall said. "The recent cookie event at a local grocery store was undertaken by a Halifax artist, who is a former student of NSCAD. The artist's action was independent and is not representa­tive of college practice, if it was executed without prior consent of those concerned," MacDougall said in the letter. “It sounds like there’s some art intention in the play on [the word] ’words.’ Our students and people connected with the college are central to the art world, so whenever any art gets made, there’s a good possibility that it’s one of our former students. But MacDougall said he has no knowledge of whether a current or former student actu­ally was responsible for the cookies. "When I talked to the police about it later, I made that clear ... there is certainly no way that we know who it was," he said.

-Cookies as Art? Uh-uh, cops say - and the mystery goes on, The Halifax Herald, July 22, 1994

“Ex-art students’ cookie caper half-baked, police say” is one of twelve headlines reproduced to scale, in the context of their original pages. Of the project staff reporter for The Mail Star report, “Some call it art, others call it mischief. Offici
       
     
+

“Ex-art students’ cookie caper half-baked, police say” is one of twelve headlines reproduced to scale, in the context of their original pages. Of the project staff reporter for The Mail Star report, “Some call it art, others call it mischief. Officials at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design say a former student placed several packages of cookies bearing· photocopied labels in Sobeys and IGA grocery lores in Halifax as performance art” beneath local interest headlines; Marine harvest N.S. beaches home to curiosities from sea; Margolians Summer Clearance %50 off Selected merchandise. Press clippings from this and Sandy Plotnikoff’s inspiring project Bun Bun, 1994 in Kelowna City Park are reproduced as an artist book that looks in every respect like one section of a newspaper in ‘Newspaper (1999) an artist book with Sandy Plotnikoff, made with a cold web press [12 pages, unbound, folded, double-sided, ed. 600]