From 22 June to 30 August at the Asian Cultural Center in Gwangju, 
Mattia Casalegno presents the first iteration of his Aerobanquets project in Korea in conjunction with the ACT Festival and ISEA - International Symposium of Art and Technology.
Winner of the Lumen Prize People’s Choice Award 2018, The Aerobanquets RMX is a multisensory Mixed Reality project which was developed with support from a Research and Production grant from the Chronus Art Center Shanghai in 2018 and has since been shown at Chronus Art Center and at China Rendez-Vous, Sanya, CN.
Loosely based on the Futurist Cookbook, the project creates playful, immersive dining experiences / performances which combine elements of recipe, manifesto, science fiction and fairytale. Produced using Mixed Reality, Aerobanquets are “not only a transformative experience, but a tool to reprogram our senses, they way we perceive” (Wall St Magazine). The experiences also raise questions about how we neurologically process food and relate it to our surroundings and about current challenges relating to food production, and explore the future of food consumption.
Thirteen recipes were developed in collaboration with Flavio Ghignoni Carestia inspired by the Futurist Cookbook. These were categorised according to shape, texture, colour and other parameters which in turn were the starting point for developing digital complements to the food using CGI, 3D modelling and motion tracking.
Each experience takes participants on a journey to a disconcerting, multi sensory environment, bizarre but with traces of the familiar. Diners taste, smell, feel, see and hear their way through different settings derived from the Cookbook and through contemporary places and scenarios. Flavours, textures, colours and sounds are choreographed simultaneously; scenes are created using the spice of ginger or the earthiness of mushrooms as well as 3D rendering and soundscapes.
The Gwangju iteration is presented in collaboration with Chintan Pandya of Adda and Rahi NYC (menu), Zsa Zsa Wen, Yeji Song and Jonathan Song (CGI and Unity), and Matthieu Cherubini (script). Music is by Martux_M.
