Cirque du Soleil founder set to open restaurant-theatre complex in Ibiza

HeartIbiza

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté and culinary wizards Ferran and Albert Adrià are set to open their highly anticipated, multi-sensory gastronomic theater in Ibiza this month, a dining concept designed to shatter the boundaries that compartmentalize food, music and art in their own little silos.

At Heart Ibiza, inside the Ibiza Gran Hotel, there will be lights. There will be music. And there will be food. All at once.
Divided into three distinct spaces — Terrace, Supper and Club — the sprawling restaurant entertainment complex accommodates up to 1,000 people and is described as a cultural, musical, artistic and gastronomic theme park for adults.

And given that the project — the fruit of 10 years of discussion and brainstorming — is under the creative direction of Laliberté and the Adrià brothers (whose shuttered Spanish restaurant elBulli is considered the culinary birthplace of avant-garde, ‘deconstructivist’ gastronomy) you can bet that envelopes will be pushed, imaginations stretched and palates challenged.

Think body-painters, dancers, international electro DJs, interactive 3D art, virtual reality installations, and world flavors all set to timed choreography that changes every day.

At Supper Heart, for instance, the dining experience becomes operatic, with dishes presented to their own original soundtrack that speeds up and slows down the tempo of the meal.

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At Heart Terrace, the all-you-can-eat buffet concept is turned into an ambient street market set across 1,500 square meters, along with bazaars and food stalls that offer international cuisines. Guests are also entertained by roving live performance art.

And Club Heart is pitched as the underbelly of the resort, where Cirque du Soleil comes in.

Every night, international DJs will spin electro tracks to the choreography of light shows, video projections, and live performances from Cirque du Soleil.

Walls and spaces will be furnished by avant-garde art from international artists such as Takashi Murakami, digital artist Miguel Chevalier, Gim Hong Sok and Rafael Lozano.

When teasing the project last year, Albert Adrià described the multi-disciplinary Heart Ibiza as a cultural and artistic amusement park for adults that will have a global impact.

The multi-disciplinary dining concept is in line with a growing trend that aims to elevate food to a theatrical experience.
One of the pioneers of “gastro-opera” is French chef Paul Pairet, whose Shanghai restaurant Ultraviolet opened in 2012 and engages all the senses via atomizers, projections and music.

Following Pairet’s cue, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona Spain also created a culinary opera titled “El Somni” in which a 12-course meal was accompanied by image projections, performing arts, singing, electronica and 3D.

Heart Ibiza opens June 30. Admission to Terrace starts at €80 ($112); the Supper experience is €150 ($209) and tickets to the Club are €50 ($70).

{ SOURCE: CTV.ca | http://goo.gl/YElyQr }