Dinner Party at the End of the World is an experimental gathering where a four-course meal meets interactive fiction—through storytelling, vernacular ephemera, and homemade food. It explores how we can push outside of homogenous creative frameworks and, instead, allow something like a dinner party to become an unexpected experiential algorithm.

Every choice in the story leads to a different outcome and themed dish. A fork in the road could be the difference between a delightful appetizer… or a pile of rocks! Approaching world-building from a holistic, immersive angle, I wrote a four-part, choose-your-own-adventure story; designed visuals for each of the four locations; screen-printed ephemera, clues, and souvenir shirts; built a set for the dinner party; cooked four variations of every possible dish combination; and finally captured the event with a motion piece. Each guest plays a character, journeying together across the speculative dystopia of Key Island: from the dust storms and mineral-rich deposits of the Badlands; to Minnow’s Cafe & Inn, an roadside motel of forged letters and fish-of-the-day; along the timeless Key Island Railway, riddled with odd artifacts and ulterior motives; and finally to the Lounge on Verräter Cliff, where not all is as it seems… This project emerged from the question: In a world of rapid consumption and emotional isolation, how can a “dinner party” act as a larger vessel for slow design, community, and the joy of playing pretend?

Kari Trail, Creative direction, graphic design, creative writing, motion, screen-printing