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).
![](../I/m/The_Rice_Show_-_A_new_statistic.jpg)
![](../I/m/The_Rice_Show_-_Blues_v_Villa_in_rice.jpg)
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] 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.
References
- Gardner, Lyn (2008-09-13). "Guardian: Theatre preview". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- "Storm warnings – the rice show". Stan's Cafe. 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
- David, Peta (2008-09-18). "(review)". The Stage. Archived from the original on 2011-06-12. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- Hutera, Donald (2008-09-23). "Of All the People in All the World at the A. E. Harris Factory, Birmingham". London: The Times. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- "Stan's Cafe: Statistics Centre". Stan's Cafe. 2008-08-28. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- Grimley, Terry (2008-09-09). "Little grains of truth from Stan's Cafe". Birmingham Post. Archived from the original on 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-24.