Debra Solomon presents two Social Sculpture PROJECTS involving FOOD Workshop

1 : NOMADIC BANQUET

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS WILL create a mobile banquet for the DAI/NAI group (200ppl). This banquet is not a traditional sit-down banquet in ONE location, but a banquet spread throughout the city offering the guests the taste of the urban fabric in addition to the food. Guests will walk or ride bikes from course to course and discover the city’s street food… and its street vendors, and of course, its streets.

Armed with self-made picnic packages the workshop participants hit the streets. The home-made lunches are wrapped in beautiful poster-blankets that state, ‘I will trade you this delicious and nutritious lunch in exchange for the opportunity to run your food stall for 1-2 hours.’ The participants will offer lunch packages (food, a poster-blanket explaining the project and on which to sit, napkins with similar information, a smart little vegetarian lunch, all very beautifully designed) to food vendors that they meet on the street. In this way the participants will get to know the culture of the street and the food and begin to build real (although ludicrous) relationships with the people that sell food on the street. In the course of the first days this will allow the participants to test and taste the city, map the streets as a culinary location. At the end of the 5 day workshop the participants will have created the logistics and designed the experience of the banquet for the DAI/NAI group.

Day 1- Project introduction, inventory of participants skills, the participants go on their first reconnaissance mission of the city. Participants meet for LUNCH on the street. Returning to the NAI, the participants talk about food design, and begin printing of the poster/blankets and napkins. The initial picnic packaging is devised.

Day 2 - The participants decide which areas of the city they want to investigate and ‘divide up the city’ accordingly. The group buys and assembles the ingredients for the picnics. The participants take off on their bikes to the specific locations being sure to have a back-up plan (or 2 or 3) in case the street vendor of their choice doesn’t agree to the picnic for stall trade. The participants document their location and interaction with the street vendors. After lunch the participants return to the NAI to briefly report on their experiences. Enhancements to the experience are discussed as well as potential routing, design, and logistical issues.

Day 3 - As Day 2, only much better. After Lunch a map is drawn up and the logistics of the banquet project are worked out in preliminary form.

Day 4 - In the morning the group walks through the potential route, brainstorming possible enhancements and interventions at the locations. After lunch the necessary printed material is planned, designed and production begins. A portion of the group returns to the city and communicates with the street vendors, making appointments with them concerning time, money and even redesigning certain food items.

Day 5 -BANQUET DAY - In the morning the group walks through the banquet. Lunch. Final touches, printed matter are finished if not already, the group makes final checks with their street vendors.

Evening: Banquet for the DAI/NAI group and an additional 24 invited guests from the city of Nanjing. The invited guests will be chosen by placing a 4x6 grid upon the map of the city and inviting the potentially prominent plus the participating street-food vendors (when possible) from every section of the grid. The ‘banquet’ WILL BE a nomadic one.

WHO IS ESPECIALLY WELCOME TO JOIN THIS WORKSHOP?
NAI students with a command of the local Chinese language spoken by street vendors, graphic designers, information designers, interface designers, fashion designers are especially welcome. DAI Publics and Privates with an interest in food, urban fabric and situationism are especially welcome.

Workshop 2: A Single Grain of Rice - FASTFOOD, Design a restaurant for FASTING

In this project there will be a core group of participants that will design a restaurant and a much larger group of people that participate in the juice fast, the test group. The test group will consist of people (unlimited amount) participating only in the juice fast. They will drop by the restaurant location for their liquid meals 3-5 times a day and discuss possible enhancements to the project with the core group.

A Single Grain of Rice is a cultural experience for the senses. It offers a possibility for Chinese and non-Chinese students alike to get to know China and the relationship between her food and cultural history through her edible ingredients and through a juice fast in a made-by-us pavilion. Building upon Solomon's research into the culture of fasting in India during the Doors of Perception EAST conference in Bangalore (December 8-12, 2003), in this workshop a core group will design a location and an experience oriented entirely towards a 3-day JUICE FAST. The ambience in the space and of the project is geared to connecting value to food.
Will the fasting restaurant be a silent juice bar? An elegant tea house? A temple of food politics? Can a small community be born out of this experience? The workshop will address food design, food rituals and the potential of the fast as an investigation into another culture. Finally, the workshop will also be a research into packaging design and vernacular architecture.

Day 1 - Project introduction, inventory of core group participant skills, juice food buying and juice/tea making. LIQUID LUNCH. After lunch we will begin to think about the location and begin to brainstorm about the menu. (Hopefully there will be a lot of Chinese students in this workshop that can talk about their culture’s food rituals.) The group divides up into areas of design interest and expertise. In the evening we prepare and eat our PRE-FAST meal with the test group.
Day 2 - The core group prepares the breakfast packages for themselves and the test group. After breakfast we discuss the experience, and the logistics of running a restaurant. Time for shopping? The core group prepares an enhanced lunch for themselves and the test group. After the lunch the core group arranges the evening programming (informal lecture? visit to tofu factory?) and prepares the evening liquid feast.
Day 3 - The same as Day 2 only better. The group is divided into skill-sets and the design of the various restaurant modules begins. The mealtimes are used to report and test the progress to the core group. The test group is supportive and offers extremely useful critique. The actual building (assembling?) has begun.
Day 4 - The same as Day 3 only better. By now a physical location is beginning to take shape. Is it moveable? I hope so - because we’re going to move it. After LIQUID LUNCH the group discusses how they would like to manifest the project at the upcoming exhibition.
Day 5 - The same as Day 4 only better. The lunch and evening meals are geared towards breaking the fast. In the evening the participants discuss the fasting experience and brainstorm about the exhibition. The core and test group dismantle the restaurant together in preparation of the exhibition.
WHO IS WELCOME? NAI students that are architects, industrial designers, graphic designers, interior architects and fashion designers are especially welcome. DAI Publics and Privates that are interested in food, the public domain, the urban fabric, and global food politics are especially welcome.

Slideshow of the workshop: www.vanriet.com/debra/index.html
More about food at www.vanriet.com/debra/point-it/index.html