AI Banquet with Bompas & Parr was a future-focused world first in New York City in March 2022 designed for the GREAT Campaign - the UK’s international promotional programme. This event supported the campaign in encouraging US audiences to see a different side of the UK.
The dining concept was driven by British innovation in the realms of artificial intelligence, science, culinary spectacle, architecture, and theatre, created to inspire fresh ideas, challenge conventional logic and stimulate what’s next.
Technological innovation, theatrical techniques, gastronomy, and contemporary British design combined for attendees to revel in a dream dinner party of iconic British figures brought to life through the use of state-of-the-art UK AI and creative practice.
Dream Dining made possible with AI
Bompas & Parr worked with AI scientist and creator Dr Shama Raman and her tech startup Neurocreate to develop AI models of famous British pioneers of the past - William Shakespeare, Mary Seacole, Charles Darwin and Agatha Christie. These fed script to a troupe of actors to improvise with in real-time – a high wire act of creative collaboration between art and science.
To present them for guests’ dining experience, the actors were given lines by the AI’s trained on the original British legend’s body of work, further revitalising the words with their own performance and interpretation. This approach is known as ‘prompt engineering’ and is a form of directed and specific curation of likelihoods of entertaining, witty, and yet insightful AI responses.
The Carousel of Conviviality
The banquet was hosted on a remarkable piece of bespoke furniture designed by Atelier Adam Nathanial Furman. The dining table allowed participants to meet all the AI based icons as they dined.
The unseen side of British food and creativity
Despite the vast numbers of cuisines and influences on British cuisine, until very recently it has had a reputation for being bland, possibly a legacy of mid-20th Century strictures. With the casualisation of dining, rising social cachet of food, and growing interest in cooking and dining as a leisure activity, the depth and number of food cultures found in the UK has become a great strength.
F&B innovation
An exploratory British menu was developed drawing flavours, produce and techniques from across the four nations, from Laser-cut Dulse (Northern Ireland) to AI Designed Jelly with Rhubarb, Gin, Hot and Cold Custard (England).
Collaborators: Adam Nathaniel Furman, David Mellor, Established and Sons, Gusbourne Wine, Richard Brendon Studio, Dom James Music