by Red Cell
If the heroine of Alice in Wonderland was made out of sugar, the world of Bompas & Parr is the one she would live in. The have cornered the market on otherworldly approaches to food and the eating of it. For example: in an incredible feat of engineering, the duo flooded a Robert Adam building with 4 tonnes of Courvoisier, creating an Architectural Punchbowl so large you could boat across it, they installed an ultrasonic humidifier in a London bar to create an intoxicating vapor of Gin & Tonic so that the very mist-filled air became a cocktail, they created an enormous glowing jelly installation for San Francisco’s MOMA and even worked with the ICA to transform Peter Greenaway’s “The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover” into a scratch-n’-sniff event, introduced by Greenaway himself!
These are no ordinary jam & jelly makers.
Bompas & Parr’s current projects include:
The Complete History of Food (July 2010):
An exciting walk-through dining experience and multi-course meal charting key revolutionary periods in food history. Travel through time eating and drinking food from London’s top restaurants. The deeper you go in the building the further back in time you go. It’s a bit like Heston’s Feast but on a grander scale and open to everyone. Food eras covered include Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian and the contemporary scene with a number of global firsts thrown into the mix. Think flooded dining rooms, giant sugar sculptures, Iguanodon dinners and food that responds to your brain waves.
Occult Jam (June 2010):
Since the dawn of time man has struggled to unlock the secrets of eternal life. Occult Jam is a small triumph over mortality. Base ingredients are preserved through their transformation into jam and enhanced with powerful artifacts. Occult Jam launches at The Surreal House exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery on 24th June. The jams include: 1 – Absinthe and pineapple with sand from the Great Pyramids. 2 – Plum and Oak with wood from Nelson’s ship The Victory. 3- Milk Jam infused with a speck of Princess Diana’s hair. Occult jam will be available to purchase from the Barbican Art Gallery Shop.
Yes, the actual Princess Diana’s hair. No kidding. If the duo can maintain their current level of ingenuity and success, we may be visiting them at their new restaurant on the moon very soon.
FROM THE ARCHITECTURAL PUNCHBOWL:
FROM THE GLOWING JELLIES AT MOMA:
FROM ALCOHOLIC ARCHITECTURE:
http://theendofbeing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bumpass.mp4
ALSO –
Check out this awesome article by Hugh Montgomery at The Independent. He actually goes to their apartment and interviews them amongst their strange ingredients and obscure gelatin molds. They are highly amusing and it is a very entertaining read. Check it out!