Bit of late post, but the little bbq we hosted at Katie’s place was a real winner, a poutpourri of the NL tech scene. We made a few ironic Silicon Valley comparisons seeing as it lightly rained throughout the event. Still this did not keep 40 eager people showing up at what we thought would be a washout.
The food was quite delicious, with a special mention to Peter of BubbleFoundry for his ribs, (which weren’t sponsored) and to Stormhoek for supplying wine, which was much appreciated.

Guests included people from Joost, Wakoopa, TheNextWeb, Forrester, Wired, New York Times, Alchemyst, TreasureMyText, XoloTV and more!

Last weekend i was with friends visiting the opening of the 5-yearly art festival called Dokumenta that takes place in Kassel, Germany. For those of you not up with the program in contemporary art circles, this event is a big deal. Something to do with it being one of the oldest and first major art events. People call it the 100 day museum. Ok now that you are orientated on with this post.

This Dokumenta which is the 12th, one of the world’s most innovative chefs was asked to come and present his work, Ferran Adria. This was mouthwatering in that it was a chance to see what he would do at such an event outside his modus operandi at his restaurant in Spain. It was also a good way to profile art that is outside the normal framework of what we are used to. He has contributed to the culinary arts and will probably go down in history as a modern day Escoffier for his contributions. So shock horror, arriving in Kassel, i find out that he is no longer coming. A day later at the press office i asked what had happened. The official version of their story was that he just “couldn’t make it” and to make up for this, random people would be selected and send to his restaurant for a free dining experience and that this would happen throughout the 100 days…(not sure how many people would end up there). I heard that there was more on this covered by Der Spiegel

I was disappointed and have a few thoughts of my own for the Dokumenta organizers. I realize that the huge crowds that come to this event make the idea of food as an experience there quite daunting, but there is a way to do it. The organizers could have made this work with the right planning. I don’t accept any excuses for this not happening short of family deaths, the usual serious reasons why people pull out. Let this be a challenge to future art curators, to make the necessary preparation to pull of what i believe needs further attention, the culinary arts contribution to contemporary art. The show was a feast for the eyes and there was also a lot of lackluster work on show. At least let our tongues and brains be challenged rather than wearing out our eyes.

Another pathway of experience design comes through the serving of food and is decanted via the evolution of restaurant cultures. The bleeding edge of cooking is a hive of sensory activity. The willingness and understanding of restaurant chefs to want to surprise and break assumptions, coupled with the abstraction and decoupling of flavor from its mother-form is providing for wild leaps of faith. New techniques and new tool kits have arrived thanks to chefs seeking out chemists and machine makers for collaborative benefit. Chefs can now embed flavor into materials not heard of before, while eradicating the separation of salt for maincourse and sweet for dessert. Foams, bubblebaths, gels, condensates, crunches never snowboarded before, hot and cold waves like physists seeking out new quantum materials. Environmentals like smoke or other textured or fragrant materials. The only remnants to an older time are the waiters. Surely more theatrical and narrative heavy experiences are soon to appear.

Biggest regret in my life so far: Having to turn down and stagiere position at El Bulli. (I could not get out of other committments…a painful lesson.)

Nevertheless, if i had done that then i would not be where i am now which i really can’t complain about. Actually i feel lucky to be able to work on fascinating projects with clients or together on collaborations with friends. Food has not left forever. Personally i would like to integrate the learnings from working with food and experience across to what i do now which is so similar. Here’s a promise to reengage with the sensory richness of food and theatre.

Video is of Alinea restaurant in Chicago, and you can take a look at their R&D here. El Bulli is located in Rosas, Spain.