08-05-2013
A SYNESTHETIC DINNER. The set of El Somni in Barcellona, a multimedia project conceived by brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, chefs at the Celler de Can Roca in Girona, and by Catalan artist Franc Aleu. It's a performance divided into 12 acts and we had the fortune of attending its premiere. As of tomorrow, two exhibitions will start as well as the work for a book and a film. A world tour will soon be made official (photo by Zanatta)
The dress rehersal of El Somni
Amuse-bouche rehersal: on the center, Bonsai of pica-pica
Our experience begins: note down the address of Arts Santa Monica
Outside you can see the van from Girona. Inside, all the nécessaire for the experience
Inside, the plaque thanking all those who took part in the project
In order to reach the set, you need to pass an exhibition's hall displaying a preview of what you'll see once seated
A Yin and Yang teaser
The set/table before the perfomance begins
Let's start!
An audiovisual spiral swallows us into the trip
At the center of the table, hidden between magnificent bonsais (a classic scheme of the Rocas), pica-pica (bon bon) representing different countries: cevice from Peru, guacamole from Mexico, cous-cous from Morocco...
Dining companions start feeling astonished
The dream begins: Act 1 is centered on The Moon, with spheres of white and black truffle with earthy distillate
All around, Franc Aleu's video, Luca Francesconi's music and the tableware by Taller Luesma Vega
The moon
Act 2: Space
Every dish comes with a different glass of wine: a trip through cava and champagne, Armagnac and Rioja and single drops of distillates, also poured on our hands
All around, a 3D creation by Franc Aleu, with music by Sergi Caballero and Pedro Alcade
Act 3: Ophiucus, the 13rd sign of the zodiac
Act 4: Under the Sea, the set goes into the sea (see video 1)
On the table, a really delicious composition, served on Pere Gifre and Dani Molina's sculptures: velouté of grilled sea urchin, pan seared sauce of sea anemone, grilled shrimp with a chamber of prawn head, parmentier of octopus, marinade of mussels and sea fennel barnacle
In between every act, the calm voice of Josep Roca
Act 6: The Courtship
Yin Yang all over: in Albert Guinovart's music and Franc Aleu's video. And on Roca's dish: Yin-Yang oysters bathed in Palo Cortado sherry, oyster sauce, white and black garlic
Let's be prepared for Act 7's fireworks. Twelve waiters are working descretely, you realise they're in only when they are illuminated
Act 7: these dishes are piece of art, inspired by fossils. The designer: Roos Van de Velde
Soon after the shattering apple, the Act 8's title, the opera becomes gloomier in Act 9, named War: Goose Royale with beetroot blood droplets. Music (by Wolfgang Mitterer) and images get crueler (see video 2)
Act 10: Mercy/Death
Foam of purple potato, bon bon ice cream gentian, bone marrow, rhubarb with caviar and trumpet of death mushrooms, in fumes of incense scent of Artemisia
After Glory (Act 11, the dish you previously saw in video 3) we nearly reach the end with Act 12, The Awakening/Sweet Spring
All the dining companions would turn back time and start again
Amuse-bouche Bonsai of pica-pica
Prelude: Water Nymphs Vegetable broth at a low temperature with written word
Act 1 - The Dream begins The Moon: spheres of white and black truffle with earthy distillate
Atto 2 - Space Air (or essence) of Cap de Creus cactus figs
Act 3 - Ophiucus A serpent of smoked eel
Act 4 - Under the sea Velouté of grilled sea urchin
Act 4 - Under the Sea Grilled shrimp with a chamber of prawn head
Act 5 - The Garden of the Hesperides Mandala with lemon, curry, beets, mango, coconut, fennel, yogurt, cinnamon, cardamom, mint, ginger, pepper, flowers, artichokes and lamb
Act 6 - The Courtship Yin-Yang oysters bathed in Palo Cortado sherry, oyster sauce, white and black garlic
Act 7 - Carnality Sauce of mole, grilled roses, juice of pigeon, hen breast displayed in rose shape with droplets of rose water
Act 8 - Shattering/Aplle Blown candy apple stuffed with foam and dice of grilled apple and sobrassada
Act 9 - War Goose Royale with beetroot blood droplets
Act 10 - Mercy/Death Foam of purple potato, bon bon ice cream gentian, bone marrow, rhubarb with caviar and Trupmpet of Death mushrooms, in fumes of incense scent of Artemisia
Act 11 - Glory Dish breathing: puree of cocoa, sourdough ice cream, dried and fresh lychee, caramelised chocolate and acid meringues (see video 3)
Act 12 - Awakening/Sweet Spring Candy floss cloud, touches of flowers and honey, confectionary and butterflies
Jordi Roca, Franc Aleu, Joan Roca e Josep Roca, the four minds behind El Somni
Being just back from London, with the reflectors of all the world pointed at them, holding the throne of the 50Best, the Roca brothers couldn’t have chosen a better moment to raise the curtain over an unprecedented project. It’s called El Somni, a noun which in Spanish recalls sleep and dream. It is the universal artwork, a term with which Richard Wagner wanted, in his case, to reproduce the theatrical works of Ancient Greece, the synthesis, in one unique representation, of the thrill of artists with the most different creative talents.
Joan e Jordi Roca blow El Somni's first candle out
All around, there’s the discontinuous siege of waiters dressed in black and the constant one of robotic clocks, pulsing lights and giant curved screens which, coherently with the images and the dishes on the table, reproduce, in turn, lyrical songs, idyllic scenes, oneiric explorations, astral odysseys, mythological representations, war horrors, sensual carnalities and Grand-Guignol-style roughness signed by dozens of artists and timed by Josep Roca, as magnetic as in Girona, in his illustration of the dishes and of the wines, and in announcing with solemn words each change of scene: «the individual», «the regeneration of life», «the sea», «death» (for more details, see the videos and the photo-gallery below).
Josep Roca, our Virgil of El Somni
Writer and scientist Harold McGee, actress Freida Pinto and chef Ferran Adrià, 3 of the 12 'wisemen' who stepped in to support Roca's opera
Gabriele Zanatta’s opinion: on establishments, chefs and trends in Italy and the world
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt