The performative Silence Meal was organized for invited guests at the Villa Benni in collaboration with the City Space Architecture in Bologna, Italy.

The Silence Meal is a performative dining experience conceived of and hosted by the Finnish artist Nina Backman. The performance experiments with a series of steps revolving around senses and silence. The meal follows a specific frame and is officially opened when the artist sits down. Attending to the ritual of the meal in a way that is free of verbal distraction, this transitory community of silence offers participants an experience of clarity that is unique to the occasion. By removing the aspect of the spoken word, guests are freed to explore a myriad of sensory experiences that can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or cultural in nature.

Public Space Museum is an Italian project based in Bologna, co-founded by City Space Architecture and curated by Luisa Bravo.

The collaboration combined a performative Silence Meal, with a lecture and workshop at the Museo Spazio Pubblico / Public Space Museum, focusing on the importance of building and protecting green areas in public spaces in Europe. In September 2022 Miniforest will be designed and installed in collaboration with Luisa Bravo at the City Space Architecture and the Bio-Habitat Foundation in Bologna, Italy.

Villa Benni:
http://villabenni.it/

City Space Architecture:
http://www.cityspacearchitecture.org/

Photograph by: Elettra Guilia Bastoni