Brandon Labelle

Table Talk

A dinner party acts as an event placing aspects of social difference alongside collective sharing. The experience of the meal then is shaped by the flow of food and drink as well as the exchange of conversation. The table comes to function as a stage, and the passing of words and actions a loose script enacted amidst the ingestion of food and the subtle frictions that place the body in particular roles. Focusing on the dinner party, Table Talk is an amplification of this inherent choreography every meal sets in motion, highlighting the particular verbal rhythms that flow across the table. Capturing the dinner as an audible performance, the work underscores the voice as material, as object passed from person to person and shifting under the flux of eating. The work further highlights how dining situates the voice in such movements to uncover a sociology of the table.

Brandon LaBelle, November 2008