When designer/artist David Stark created the decor for a Culture Lab Detroit dinner on September 16, he took inspiration from Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen's Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, a multimedia examination of chicken breeding. Vanmechelen incorporates Cosmopolitan Chicken Project in his solo exhibition at the Detroit art gallery Wasserman Projects, where the dinner was held for about 55 guests. Stark, the founder of David Stark Design and Production, said of the table decor: "The design was simple and chic, and the repetition of the egg en masse created carpets of mottled, luminous color, which ran down the lengths of the tables. The tables were dressed in natural canvas. We built raw wood risers that held open egg cartons, hosting 80 dozen eggs. After the party, the eggs went to the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm to be sold alongside their produce."
Culture Lab Detroit's fourth annual program, which took place September 15 and 16 in various locations around the city, attracted about 1,200 attendees, according to the organization. The event—which includes installations, public discussions, and dinners—aims to foster conversations and collaborations between Detroit and the international art, architecture, and design communities. This year's program theme was "Walls." Stark has been a notable participant in activities for the nonprofit Culture Lab Detroit, such as in 2015 when he created a local pop-up shop called Culture Lab Detroit Designs.
Culture Lab Detroit founder Jane Schulak said, "From the very beginning, Culture Lab Detroit has been about bringing people together, whether through conversation, collaboration, or, in the case of David Stark's imaginative design of a contemporary salon, a meal among friends."
