Two Boats, One Table
In Paris, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Dalad Kambhu bring fishing forms into a temporary restaurant.
A boat is built to hold people within a particular space. A communal table does something similar. For an upcoming Paris restaurant, artist Rirkrit Tiravanija brings the two forms together.
From October 19–25, WE ARE ONA and founder Luca Pronzato will present Dalad’s with chef Dalad Kambhu at a location near Place de l’Étoile. Tiravanija’s installation comprises two stainless-steel boats inspired by traditional Thai fishing vessels, reimagined as tables with integrated steam pots.
Cooking will take place within the installation. The relationship between kitchen and dining room becomes part of the artwork, with Kambhu’s interpretation of Thai cuisine connecting the meal to the boats’ cultural reference.
The proposition invites attention to what a fishing object can become when its setting changes. A vessel’s outline organises where people sit. A surface becomes somewhere to cook and share food. Familiar forms acquire another use through the people gathered around them.
For Tales, this is a place story about the reach of fishing culture into art, architecture and hospitality. The connection is to Thai fishing heritage rather than fly fishing specifically.
The material choice sharpens that change of setting. Stainless steel belongs comfortably to the kitchen, while the boat form points towards another working environment. Bringing them together allows the object to be read in several ways at once: a reference to a vessel, a piece of furniture and a place where a meal is prepared.
What matters spatially is how people will relate to one another around it. A communal table gives a room a centre. Cooking within that structure brings the preparation of food into the same field of attention as conversation. The installation’s usefulness will be part of the experience.
That is an engaging proposition for a temporary restaurant. Its identity comes from a specific arrangement of people, food and objects. The design asks guests to participate simply by sitting down and eating.
The most revealing images, once the project opens, may be the ones showing those relationships in use: where the chefs work, how the table is occupied and how the room gathers around it.
The restaurant has yet to open. For now, its promise is an intriguing one: a dining room whose central idea began on the water. More info on the pop up can be found here