Aerobanquets RMX

FLAVOR FIVE STUDIO

Flavor Five Studio LLC is a New York-based, multimedia creative studio and tech development firm exploring the intersection of food and mixed reality. The studio specializes in producing multidimensional, immersive gastronomy experiences. Using proprietary software, Flavor Five Studio has created a unique way to enhance the sensory experience of mixed-reality storytelling by incorporating taste.

Chintan Pandya

Executive Chef

The 2022 James Beard Best Chef: NYC award and a Michelin star make Chintan Pandya one of the the most decorated Indian chefs in America. The restaurants he and his Unapologetic Foods partner Roni Mazumdar have created have been included in Food & Wine’s Top 10 in America and the New York Times’ Top 10. Pandya has been featured in major television spots on NBC. CBS, and Food Network. And he continues to gain global recognition for his bold, creative, and personal style of cooking.

Roni Mazumdar

Chief Executive Officer

Named one of the “New Guard of Power Dining in New York” by Eater.com in 2020, Roni Mazumdar is Founder and CEO of Unapologetic Foods. He was included in the “40 Under 40” by Crain’s New York in 2021, and his restaurants with partner Chintan Pandya have received global attention, including a James Beard Award and a Michelin star.

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Mitchell Davis

Chief Strategy Officer

Founder and principle of the consultancy Kitchen Sense, Mitchell Davis, Ph.D., helped steer the James Beard Foundation for almost 30 years. Davis created the award-winning USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, which received special commendation from Michelle Obama. His clients and collaborators have included the United Nations, U.S. Dept. of State, Cornell University, Aspen Institute, Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and MIT Media Lab

Tony Mayes

Executive Producer

Founder of Mother Mayes LLC, Tony Mayes has engineered, developed, and led creative, theatrical and technical teams for more than 20 years, winning several awards from Biz-Bash and the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. In addition, Mayes has collaborated with other nonprofits and NGOs, including the U.N. General Assembly, the Leukemia Lymphoma Society of America, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Women’s Sports Foundation.

A MULTISENSORY JOURNEY BY MATTIA CASALEGNO

The world’s first mixed-reality, immersive gastronomy
experience you can taste.

PRODUCED BY

SYNOPSIS

Inspired by Italian futurists Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and L.C. Fillia's 1932 work The Futurist Cookbook—a surreal text of politics, food, technology, and farce—Aerobanquets RMX is an immersive, multisensorial, multicourse meal in mixed reality. Part art installation, part dining experience, in Aerobanquets RMX guests explore, eat, and engage with a whimsical world that alternates between dystopia and hope.

“Marinetti and his coterie made Futurism edible,” wrote professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblet. “They used their ideas about food to extend the physiology of esthetic response to the deep interior recesses of the body.” Casalegno’s work brings that response to life. “A far cry from the optimistic and utopian vision of the Futurists,” Casalegno responds, “We currently live in a world where industrial farming, overfishing, chemical pollution, and soil degradation are jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions by depleting the environment. We live in a culture where speed and economics come before health and quality. With this work I want to put a spotlight on our endangering practices and at the same time relish the joy of eating.”

“Created with remarkable beauty and precision…the scenes force awareness: I’ve never thought more about my teeth, the way saliva pools down inside my cheeks, the way spice burns the corners of my lips. The physical act of eating makes participants complicit… And, for a moment, the imaginary worlds felt dreamily real.”

“The exhibit by Italian artist Mattia Casalegno…raises questions that linger long after you experience it: Was that a meal or performance art? Is this the future of dining out? And an even more fundamental one: What is eating all about, anyway?”

“The project is about reframing our perceptions and changing the way we experience food. It is not only a lifechanging experience, but, in a sense, a tool to reprogram all our perceptive expectations.”

“When I tried the experience myself…frequently, instincts overrode. I clung to a table’s edge or straightened my posture to avoid drowning in a quick-rising milky ocean. Reaching out for an object…felt utterly natural. I disregarded reality, keenly aware and unaware, the mystery of the food and the surreality of the visuals amplifying each other.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

A pioneer of live media and interactive arts, Italian born, New York based artist Mattia Casalegno has shown his work in more than 100 exhibitions and festivals worldwide, including Electronica Animation festival, SIGGRAPH Asia, ISEA - International Society of Electronic Artists in S.Korea, Mutek festival, Update Biennial, Lumen Festival, Cimatics festival, Festival de la Imagem, Untilted Art Fair, RomaEuropa Festival. Casalegno has been featured in the New York Times, Artforum, Washington Post, and Bloomberg, as well as on, CNBC and CNN. He currently serves as co-founder and creative director of Flavor Five Studio LLC.

SYNOPSIS

ABOUT THE ARTIST

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