From the Series
On Friday 5 July 2013 a major retrospective exhibition of the work of Ferran Adrià opens at Somerset House in London.
The first version of elBulli: Feran Adrià and The Art of Food took place in Barcelona between February 2013 and February 2013 under the title Ferran Adrià and elBulli. Risk, Freedom and Creativity.
A global icon of gastronomy, Ferran Adrià’s creative genius led a culinary revolution that inspired and influenced the likes of René Redzepi and Heston Blumenthal.
Showcasing the art of cuisine and cuisine as art, the retrospective offers a behind-the-scenes look into Adrià’s kitchen laboratory at his world famous elBulli restaurant on the Catalan coast.
The Art of Food includes in-depth, multimedia displays of the essential ingredients that define the work of Adrià and his team, namely research, preparation, presentation and plaudits.
The research section includes handwritten notes and hand-drawn sketches. The preparation part of the exhibition showcases plasticine models, which were made for all the dishes served as a means of quality control of colour, portion size and position on the plate. As part of the presentation section, the exhibition includes original tasting menus, cutlery laid on the tables and beautiful images of the creations. Lastly, plaudits include original restaurant reviews and other press clippings.
Adrià and the elBulli team invented close to 2 000 dishes. “Under Adrià’s leadership and creative direction, elBulli was voted the world’s best restaurant five times by Restaurant magazine and the restaurant received over two million reservation enquiries for each summer season that it was open,” says Somerset House.
Of the retrospective Adrià said: “Even though the restaurant of elBulli is now closed, the spirit of elBulli is still very much alive and this exhibition is one of the ways of keeping it so…. Overall, it is an ode to the creativity, imagination, innovation, talent and teamwork of everyone at elBulli, but especially the world-famous chefs who trained with use and took these values into their own restaurants around the world.”
elBulli is currently being transformed from a restaurant into a foundation, set to open in 2015.
ElBulli: Feran Adrià and The Art of Food can be seen at Somerset House until 29 September 2013.
