Free Idea

 

Grant Proposal: The Machine Banquet

Applicant: [Your Name]
Grant Program: Foundation for Contemporary Arts – Creative Research Grant
Funding Requested: $150,000

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Project Summary

The Machine Banquet is an immersive installation that transforms the act of dining into a violent, claustrophobic ordeal. Guests are seated in an oppressive chamber of steel where the walls rattle, the floor shakes, and engines cough acrid fumes into the air. The space groans under its own weight, vibrating with industrial sound, as if the entire structure might tear apart at any moment.

Food is served on heavy steel trays and accompanied by disgusting wine: cloudy, sour, with unsettling residues that coat the mouth. The smell of burning oil, diesel, and hot metal lingers with every bite. In this environment, the basic rituals of eating and drinking become grotesque, hostile, and nearly unbearable. The Machine Banquet is less a dinner than an endurance trial, forcing the audience to confront consumption in its most degraded and contaminated form.