In 1983, two Stanford scientists drunkenly transmitted 13 images into outer space, showing the evolution of life on Earth. Reproduced here on a series of dessert plates, this strange set of images becomes both an invitation – perhaps for aliens to join for tea – and a celebration of a drunken moment of friendship.

A few months ago, forty years after the images were originally transmitted into space, scientists in Japan have deployed a 210-foot-wide antenna dish in the hopes of finally receiving a reply.

Exhibited at Milan Design Week, as part of ‘Sit, Feast on Your Life’ at DOPO? Space. Tableware made by 50 international creatives was set out on a 10-metre-long fir table. Visitors were encourage to use the tableware while watching a series of live events, including a talk with Jon Marshall, partner of Pentagram; Gabriel Roland, director of Vienna Design Week; and Oli Stratford, editor-in-chief of Disegno. The talk was chaired by Janice Li, curator at the Wellcome Collection.