A Tea For One Or Two
Artist Shani Ha came up with a very special Table for Two at a restaurant located on 7th Avenue in New York. The table, that’s split between the inside and the outside and has a glass panel in the middle, aims to play with the boundaries of public and private spaces.
By cutting this archetypical bistro table in two pieces the artist wants to evoke a dialogue about the way we act in various urban settings these days. Table for Two is a metaphor of social interactions and relationships in large cities such as New York, where people can be together and very close, but also alone and disconnected at the same time. By inviting the public to use the piece and sit at the table, the artist allows for experimental forms of interaction and communication between viewers, passers-by and clients.
Half of New York’s population is single. “Everyone seems eager to meet someone even if we keep on ignoring people around us, in the real life”, says Ha. In that sense the table criticizes modern ways of interaction in times in which fastfood-flavored dating apps and websites are exploding and most of our social interactions are taking place on a screen. For those who recognize Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks in the photos — it was one of the inspirations for the project.
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
A couple of years ago, far before Tinder took over the dating market, the Dutch architects of DUS came up with a similar project. Their intervention City Eyes consisted of a lunch table that was divided by an open window, and wanted to encourage people to have lunch with strangers.
At Table for Two, customers will get a free mint tea in exchange for the uncomfortable positions they got themselves into. It gives them time to have a good look at a stranger. It’s like Tinder in real life.
