harry nuriev and we are ona stack overflowing kitchen sinks for pop-up installation in paris

Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studios and WE ARE ONA in paris

Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studios and the studio We Are Ona team up again to pay homage to the kitchen’s dishwashing areas and the culture of gastronomic cooking behind the scenes by piling up overflowing sinks and flooding the reservoir at the bottom with floating, unwashed dishes. Exhibited as a pop-up installation at Paris Internationale, which runs between October 16th and 22nd, 2023, the collaborative steel installation can be viewed on the 6th and 7th floor at 17 Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, where attendees can dine in for a limited time and peer at the myriad of familiar scenes taking place at once inside an often-concealed space of a fine-dining restaurant.

The pop-up installation of Crosby Studios and We Are Ona exudes the signature touch of Harry Nuriev’s monochromatic scheme and material splashed with a standout element, as well as the studio’s gastronomic flair using artwork. Glancing at the work, the steel kitchen counter, stools, and sinks demarcate nearly the entire artwork, only disrupted by the emergence of the floating dishes smeared with leftover ink from the meals and the blue shade of the water. Set within a brutalist space, the backdrop emits a white glow that then shifts into a seductive pink, a seemingly identifiable seal Harry Nuriev employs in his works.

images © Harry Nuriev, courtesy of Crosby Studios

Pop-up installation homage to the culture of dishwashing areas

Since the pop-up installation in Paris wants to telescope into the kitchen and dishwashing culture, the plates, smudged with vibrant colors, may share the spotlight. These ‘Dirty Dishes’ form the limited series of irreverent plates designed by Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studios and Luca Pronzato of We Are Ona to inaugurate one of their tableware collections. These dirtied plates fall in sync with the gastronomic rhythm the installation is aiming for since they allude to the unfinished business in the kitchen course or that because of the clogged and overflowing sinks, these plates may never be cleaned off their smears.

The dirtied plates set the stage for Chef Dalad Kambhu, the third collaborator for the pop-up installation in Paris, who cooked up an eighth-course menu dinner with a wine pairing from Iris Godec during the private dinner one night before the exhibit was shown. Her contemporary take on traditional Thai gastronomy pairs well with the minimalist installation that synchronizes off-screen and real-life experiences where elegance meets the primal. The overflowing kitchen sinks mark the continual collaboration between Harry Nuriev of Crosby Studios and Luca Pronzato of We Are Ona, who first conceived a pop-up restaurant in New York City in May 2023.

the collaborative steel installation can be viewed at 17 Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière