From the COMM LOG —
Signal intercepted BY SHIMO:
It begins steady.
Linen folded. Silver polished. All the props of order in place.
First, the small things.
A napkin turns sheer, fabric thinning to smoke.
Course by course, more props vanish.
A fork glimmers, see-through.
Cups lose their color, paling to glass.
Then the surface itself.
The table itself turns clear.
Plates still balance, but you can see straight through them to the floor.
Or what is now a layer of emptiness stretching down and down.
And yet, dinner continues. Servers glide in unfazed.
Pour wine into goblets that hover.
Guests keep eating.
Conversation louder, laughter stiff.
Acting out the rituals, even as the support systems dissolve and disorientation blooms.
By dessert, the food itself is clear. A cake you can see through, sugar spun into glass threads, like you’re eating air.
What remains isn’t emptiness, but what you see when every surface thins:
the others, stripped of ritual, facing you. Eyes meeting across the void.
Communion revealed as the only ground.
Potential handlers:
Avant-garde restaurateurs chasing ephemerality
Fashion houses staging a supper where the clothes aren’t the only thing sheer
Liquor labels that want to toast in mid-air
Museums serving performance as the main course
Hotels proving the setting can vanish but the experience lingers
// END CIPHER.
Codename: The Last Surface
Filed under: COMM LOG // CIPHER-10
For the bigger picture: byshimo.chrisshimojima.com
Ciphers BY SHIMO are intercepted fragments — raw and unfinished.
I’ve decoded just enough to spark something for you: a concept, a project, a conversation.
Use them how you want. Just mark the origin.