thai fishing boats inspire rirkrit tiravanija’s dining installation for we are ona in paris

Tomas Kauer - News Writer and News Moderator

thai fishing boats inspire rirkrit tiravanija’s dining installation for we are ona in paris

RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA BRINGS THAI FISHING BOATS TO ART BASEL PARIS

Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija has designed two monumental stainless steel tables inspired by traditional Thai fishing boats for Dalad’s, a temporary restaurant presented by We Are Ona during Art Basel Paris 2026. Installed inside a secret location near Place de l’Étoile, the elongated structures function simultaneously as dining tables and working kitchens, with integrated seating and steam pots that allow food to be prepared and served directly in front of guests. Conceived in collaboration with chef Dalad Kambhu and We Are Ona founder Luca Pronzato, the installation places cooking and social interaction at the center of the architectural experience.

Running from October 18 to 25, 2026, the Paris pop-up marks the debut of Dalad’s, a new hospitality project developed by Kambhu and Pronzato around contemporary Thai cuisine and the act of sharing food. Accommodating up to 100 guests, the temporary restaurant replaces conventional dining arrangements with two long communal structures where chefs and visitors occupy the same space. The project also marks Kambhu’s third collaboration with We Are Ona, following previous culinary experiences developed alongside designers Harry Nuriev and Marc Leschelier.

the temporary restaurant opens during Art Basel Paris 2026

STAINLESS STEEL BOATS REDEFINE COMMUNAL DINING

For Tiravanija, the boat-shaped design draws on Thailand’s longstanding relationship with its waterways and the informal food culture surrounding them. Speaking exclusively to designboom, the artist recalls running to the pier in Bangkok to buy boat noodle soup from vendors who prepared and sold their dishes directly from the water. These memories informed his decision to bring the kitchen and dining area together within a single structure, referencing an everyday tradition in which boats operate as places of exchange as much as means of transportation. ‘I think the form itself is both a vehicle and a platform,’ he explains.

The two modular structures reinterpret this relationship through stainless steel, transforming the recognizable silhouette of a fishing boat into a contemporary setting for collective dining. Their integrated cooking stations eliminate the usual separation between the kitchen and restaurant, allowing guests to watch the chefs at work from their seats. For Luca Pronzato, from We Are Ona, the design was also inspired by the practice of giving old fishing boats a second life as floating restaurants. ‘Rather than creating a traditional dining room with individual tables and a hidden kitchen, the boats become the structural backbone of the installation,’ he tells designboom. ‘The integrated steam pods bring the cooking directly into the long communal tables, dissolving the boundary between the kitchen and the dining room.’

the project brings together contemporary art, Thai cuisine, and communal dining

KAMBHU EXPLORES THAI CUISINE BEYOND ITS GEOGRAPHICAL ROOTS

At the center of the culinary experience is Thai-American chef Dalad Kambhu, whose approach combines traditional Thai flavors and cooking techniques with seasonal, locally available ingredients. Raised in Bangkok, Kambhu developed her culinary identity across different cities before opening Kin Dee in Berlin in 2017, where her interpretation of Thai cuisine earned a Michelin star in 2019. For Dalad’s, she continues exploring the relationship between food, cultural memory, and place through a menu served directly from the installation. The pop-up offers a four-course lunch and an eight-course dinner, bringing guests together around the preparation and sharing of each dish.

The collaboration also reflects a longstanding friendship between Kambhu and Tiravanija, whose shared interest in cooking extends beyond the restaurant itself. The artist explains that their conversations have often explored what it means to prepare Thai food in places where its traditional ingredients are unavailable, raising questions about cultural identity and authenticity. ‘So it’s like finding authenticity, which is your own, which is yourself, in a foreign place,’ Tiravanija tells designboom. This perspective carries through the Paris experience, where references to Thai culture and the collaborators’ personal histories extend from the recipes to the tableware and spatial arrangement.

stainless steel structures reinterpret the silhouettes of traditional Thai fishing boats

WE ARE ONA TURNS THE ACT OF DINING INTO A COLLECTIVE ARTWORK

Founded by Pronzato in 2019, We Are Ona has developed a series of temporary culinary experiences connecting gastronomy with art, architecture, and design, collaborating with figures including Carsten Höller, Cristina Celestino, and Sabine Marcelis. The installation for Dalad’s continues this approach while engaging directly with Tiravanija’s artistic practice, which has long challenged conventional exhibition formats through everyday activities such as cooking and eating. ‘For me, artworks are not simply objects to be observed; they are experiences to be lived,’ Pronzato explains to designboom. Within the Paris installation, the tables provide the physical framework, but the interactions between chefs and guests complete the work.

This relationship between participation and artistic experience is central to Tiravanija’s work, in which the boundaries between artist, audience, and artwork are deliberately blurred. At Dalad’s, the installation is activated through the preparation of food, the presence of diners, and the conversations that emerge around the communal tables. Rather than presenting the boats as sculptures to be admired from a distance, the project invites visitors to inhabit and use them, allowing the experience to change with every gathering. As Tiravanija puts it in his conversation with designboom, ‘a beautiful meal with friends and even strangers is a beautiful work of art.’