You’re Invited!: An Interactive
Dining Experience
You’re Invited! is an interactive dining experience in which participants enter a pod to experience one of three simulated “meal” experiences. It was featured at the Mind Grown Exhibition at the John Natsoulas Art Gallery in 2016 and was created in collaboration with George Slavik and Alicia Decker.
The pod was designed to provide guests with the same positive feelings they may experience in a comfortable dining setting with friends and family. However, the experience is clearly fabricated and solitary, leading to the unease of the uncanny valley. It comments on the social rituals of our fast-paced society and where it may be headed in its current trajectory.
The project features three main parts. First, there is the physical pod itself, built to encase the participant, and designed with thrift store kitsch to resemble the human-ness and quirk of a grandmother’s home. Then there is the virtual component, the framed iPad, which can be used to tap through 3 different video dining experiences. Lastly, there are the three plates of “InstaFood” (flavored jellybeans) that represent different foods partaken in the videos, to further immerse in the virtual reality.
Video walkthrough of the interior of the pod
The virtual experiences featured in the pod—click here to watch
The pod, interior
George, Alicia, & Daria in the pod, showcasing some of the "InstaFood" provided
The pod, exterior
The pod at the gallery exhibition
The pod, exterior detail
The pod, interior detail
The table inside the pod, featuring "InstaFood"