35-meter hand-painted table transforms dining into an immersive installation in berlin
the painted composition follows the sequence of a multi-course meal, with colors and patterns referencing each dish.
A 35-Meter Hand-Painted Installation Redefines the Dining Table
L’Art de la Table is a site-specific installation and multi-course dining experience by Paris-based artist, chef, and Vitamin Color founder Eleonore Buschinger, created for Soho House Berlin during Gallery Weekend Berlin in collaboration with BlueLobster Art. The project examines the French concept of l’art de la table by translating the rituals of dining into a painted architectural environment where artwork, furniture, and food become part of a single composition.
Traditionally understood as the art of dining, l’art de la table encompasses the objects, gestures, atmosphere, and social rituals that surround a meal. Buschinger expands the expression by considering its literal meaning, transforming the dining table into the artwork itself. Conceived around the idea of bringing the canvas to the table, the installation extends painting beyond the wall and into the dining experience.
The project takes the form of a 35-meter hand-painted composition spanning walls, floor, and table, dissolving conventional distinctions between painting, furniture, and interior space. Rather than treating the table as a support for the artwork, the design integrates it into the painted environment, allowing the composition to unfold continuously across multiple surfaces.
Eleonore Buschinger Turns Culinary Elements into Painted Forms
The creative process reverses the relationship typically found between food and installation. Instead of developing dishes in response to an existing visual concept, the menu became the starting point for the painting. Buschinger developed the recipes, painted the installation, and prepared the meal simultaneously, using ingredients, colors, textures, and plating compositions as the source material for the visual language. Herb sauces, garnishes, layered ingredients, and culinary arrangements were translated into painted forms, patterns, and geometric compositions.
The installation follows the sequence of a meal. It begins with an introductory painted composition that establishes the project’s visual vocabulary before extending across the surrounding surfaces. As the painting moves from wall to floor, overlapping forms and layered colors reference the processes of preparation and cooking. At the center of the space, the composition continues across the full length of the dining table, where recurring motifs appear at different scales and configurations, creating a visual rhythm comparable to successive courses served during dinner.
The painted surface wraps over the tabletop, continues down its sides, and extends onto the floor, transforming the table into a three-dimensional painted object. A final painted panel mirrors the opening composition, although rendered without color, referencing the conclusion of the meal after the food has disappeared, while traces of the experience remain. To preserve the visibility of the painted composition throughout the dinner, each course was served on transparent glass plates, allowing the artwork to remain visible beneath the food and maintaining a continuous dialogue between image and meal.
L’Art de la Table creates A Shared Composition of Food and Form
Participation forms an integral part of the installation. Rather than observing the work from outside, guests occupy the painted environment, where movement, conversation, serving rituals, and the gradual disappearance of the food continuously alter the spatial composition. The installation evolves throughout the event as the actions of participants become part of the work itself.
Conceived as an ongoing series, L’Art de la Table establishes a framework in which each future edition generates a new site-specific installation informed by seasonal ingredients, local food cultures, and their associated colors, forms, and material qualities. Through this approach, designer Eleonore Buschinger continues to explore the relationship between cooking, painting, and spatial design, using food as the basis for both visual composition and shared experience.
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project info:
name: L’Art de la Table
designer: Eleonore Buschinger | @eleonorebuschinger
event: Gallery Weekend Berlin
collaborator: BlueLobster Art
location: Soho House Berlin, Berlin, Germany
photographers: Jamile Tessarim, Lilika Stresoska, Nano Lopez
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