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Of All the People in All the World

Of All the People in All the World, also known as the Rice Show, is an art installation and performance[1] by Stan's Cafe, which utilises 112 tonnes of dry rice[2] to represent the world's population, with one grain for each person (about 60 grains of rice—or people—per gram).

A pile of rice with one grain for every person at the Aston Villa vs. Birmingham City football match on 20 April 2008, with teams on the pitch
Two 20kg bags of rice became the number of people displaced in Darfur.

Individual piles of rice represent various statistics, such as "deaths in The Holocaust" or "the population of England". As the show progresses, new piles are made by "curators".[3] Topical events are also covered, such as a pile representing the people who lost jobs upon the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, which happened during the September 2008 exhibition.[4][failed verification] Some of the piles are shaped to represent something associated with the statistic, such as the rice representing the crowd at a football match being in the shape of a stadium, with players in formation. Visitors, or people using the show's website, are invited to suggest new statistics for inclusion.[5]

On arrival, visitors are each presented with a single grain of rice, to represent themselves.[1]

Due to space limitations, some versions of the exhibition have a had a more limited geographical scope, covering only the host country.

The installation was shown, in its full "All the World" configuration for only the second time,[1] in a disused factory belonging to AE Harris[1] in Birmingham, England: the home town[6] of Stan's Cafe. At the end of the show, all the rice used was returned to the food chain.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Gardner, Lyn (13 September 2008). "Guardian: Theatre preview". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Storm warnings – the rice show". Stan's Cafe. 8 September 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. ^ David, Peta (18 September 2008). "(review)". The Stage. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  4. ^ Hutera, Donald (23 September 2008). "Of All the People in All the World at the A. E. Harris Factory, Birmingham". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  5. ^ "Stan's Cafe: Statistics Centre". Stan's Cafe. 28 August 2008. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  6. ^ Grimley, Terry (9 September 2008). "Little grains of truth from Stan's Cafe". Birmingham Post. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
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