Conspiracy is designed to transform the convivial moment of supper into a symposium, where friendships and diverse political ideas mutually intensify until the point of fury, through the art of conversation. Inspired by Plato’s Symposium, the perfect example of a banquet where eros
and politics combine, Mali Weil has designed a universal table utensil that can turn itself into a weapon if necessary. A burning imagination. A friendship so intense that it is able to rewrite the future. These are the ingredients of the Animal Spirits banquet.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
A single copper slab, cut and bent, become at the same time spoon and fork.
The set is composed by 6 pieces for the commensals plus a serving one. It is realized in tinned copper for food use.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Copper, tin
27×3,5×2 cm / 37x 4,7×2,8 cm
CONCEPT AND DESIGN
Mali Weil
PRODUCTION
Carpenteria Baroni,
Navarini Rame
CUSTOMIZATION NO
PARTICIPANTS 3 – 7 RISK LEVEL 8
DISCLAIMER: THE EXERCISE IS DANGEROUS AND YOU WILL PARTICIPATE AT YOUR OWN RISK
You will perform this exercise in a team, in single sessions and with no breaks or repetitions.
The goal is creating an agon of different opinions and developing imagination resistance and plasticity.
By experiencing the intensity of other people’s words, imagination undergoes a dynamic movement from the individual to the group, gives out energy and needs to be crystallised into action. Exercise time is medium-short.
INSTRUCTIONS
Organise a dinner, i.e. a symposium, in which conversation blazes. Each detail must be taken care of. Training is divided into two phases. Friends talk about a common and established topic which focuses
on the external world. Each friend contributes with their own visions and is not afraid of igniting thoughts in the others. The host will play the role of the symposiarch and manage the rhythm of the speeches, by granting each guest equal rights to speak. Once the conversation has started, during the second phase, guests have to picture themselves as participants of a conspiracy and adjust the dispute
according to the architecture of a common action. Imagination has to be shaped into an action that everybody approves.
SOME TECHNIQUES
In order to facilitate dialectics, each guest can embody one of the following attitudes: concreteness, idealism, balance, irony, softness, inclination towards impossible questions, joie de vivre (or recklessness).