On a recent short business trip to Barcelona in the company of Emiliano Martinelli, who is also the author of the travel photos, we visited the exhibition"Ferran Adrià and elBulli. Risk, Freedom and Creativity" set up at the Palau Robert in Barcelona.
It is well known that in the last twenty years Ferran Adrià has been one of the most talked about international chefs.
Idolized or slandered, loved and loathed, considered an absolute genius or a great bluff, in any case an absolute protagonist of the most recent international cuisine. Much has been said, spoken, written, told about him.
I strongly suggest to all those who would like to delve into this topic and get a better idea regarding Ferran Adrià's work to visit this exhibition that will be open for about a year.
I was literally enraptured, enchanted, and felt very strong emotions, which I may not even be able to convey the way they came to me, but I try.
I believe that anyone who sets foot in Palau Robert to visit this exhibition, which is also an art installation, a continuous performance, cannot help but be immediately struck by how much commitment, work, research, and above all how much technical, historical, chemical, and culinary expertise and knowledge underlies Adrià's work.
The exhibition, which is beautifully conceived and set up (and no small detail, open free to the public), contains all kinds of documents and media: videos and writings, documents and recipes, photos and notes, books and objects.
It is a continuous bombardment of ideas, stimuli, reasons for reflection and new knowledge. I sensed an impressive amount of mental and manual activity from which I felt almost overwhelmed.
On the one hand, I was seized almost by a frenzy to understand every fragment of the path, to assimilate as much as possible and to enjoy the splendid exhibition millimeter by millimeter, minute by minute, but on the other hand I received so much input and all at once, that I was also a bit choked up, I almost wanted to run away, to quickly escape all that I was assimilating in such a short time.
The exhibition culminates with the "representation of the last supper," that is, the filmed documentation of the last evening that took place at elBulli, before its closure.
It was an unforgettable experience, full of surprising aspects and special effects, as is his cooking and style.
I believe that anyone who visits this exhibition, in whatever way he or she may think about Ferran Adrià, cannot help but see and consider that nothing comes by chance and surely will have to accept the fact that it is impossible to accuse Ferran Adrià of improvisation and inconsistency.
This exhibition is the container of a lifetime of hard work set on an impressive meticulousness, professionalism and seriousness where the commitment to research and experimentation are comparable to those of a scientific analysis laboratory.
Every minute detail and step,of every preparation, every day of his and his collaborators' work has been documented with various types of media: paper and digital, photographic and video, and this has been the case from the very beginning, from the very first years of operation.
Already this detail attests to a determination, passion and foresight that is truly out of the ordinary. I think that the molecular cuisine of
Ferran Adrià does not necessarily have to please everyone, no one is obliged to prefer it, and on personal tastes and preferences in my opinion there is maximum freedom of opinion and choice, but one thing is certain: the work that Ferran Adrià (and of the many collaborators who have contributed to this project), has done over all these years through elBulli and will continue to do in the Foundation he created with his brother Albert, is undoubtedly extraordinary,
Ferran undoubtedly deserves the leading place on the international stage that he has earned even amidst a thousand difficulties and distrusts and deserves great professional respect: "chapeau!",to put it in the French manner.
