Ferran Adria and elBulli Go on Tour

When Ferran Adria finished dinner service, cleaned the kitchen, and locked the door of elBulli for the final time on July 30, 2011, the last thing on his mind was working on an exhibit that reprised his career. For one thing, his career wasn’t over, though many people wondered whether he was committing career suicide by closing the world’s most celebrated restaurant. Adria’s first act had concluded but his second act, he hoped, would be even more spectacular.

When he was approached about contributing to an exhibit, “Ferran Adria & elBulli, 1961-2011: Risk, Freedom & Creativity,” he initially turned down the offer. The man who had been crowned as the world’s best chef had, of course, been presented with all sorts of propositions to fill his post-elBulli time: movies, books, restaurants, investment and consulting ventures, and speaking gigs, to name a few. He declined most offers, intending, instead, to devote his time to the development of the elBulli Foundation, a culinary think-tank and laboratory that he envisioned as bridging the rarified world of molecular gastronomy with the more pedestrian, more economical food habits of the general public.   

Ultimately, though, Adria found something irresistible about the idea of the exhibit: its organizers proposed a show that would be as obsessive as Adria himself in documenting the chef’s and elBulli’s history. Adria’s participation in the design of the exhibit would be crucial, as so much of the knowledge and ephemera that would be on display would come from the chef himself. Adria has long nurtured the habit of writing and photographing every dish he makes, documenting a plate’s evolution in painstaking detail. His notebooks, photo archives, and hard drives were treasure troves for exhibit curators. 

“Ferran Adria & elBulli, 1961-2011: Risk, Freedom  & Creativity,” opened in Barcelona in February 2012 and ran through February 2013. Although it won’t be in the United States until February 2014, it’s not too early to get excited about the exhibit, which is so full of material it warrants more than one visit. Designed with an abundance of textual and visual stimuli, including video, the exhibit includes Adria’s own notes and journals, pieces of cutlery and plates that Adria had custom-designed for elBulli, and even a box of chocolates and truffles served at the final elBulli meal.

The exhibit is a tribute to Adria precisely because it pays as much reverent attention to detail as the chef has always paid to both the process and the product in his kitchen. It leads the viewer through the humble origins of elBulli to the consolidation of Adria’s culinary philosophy and its last days and hours as the world’s best restaurant; the exhibit also offers some hints as to what the elBulli Foundation, Adria’s new project, holds.

In this video, Adria himself leads us through the exhibit at Palau Robert in Barcelona. Consider it a preview: the exhibit kicks off its world tour with a stop in New York in February 2014, followed by Sao Paulo. Other host cities are expected to be announced.