The V&A Future Series with Propela, 2018

In celebration of the landmark exhibition The Future Starts Here, Propela, the team behind The Future Of_, is delighted to announce a four-part event series collaboration with the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Unfolding throughout 2018, the series will explore 4 epic themes from a breadth of perspectives - near, far and speculative.
The first session in the series will be V&A Future Series with Propela: Food Friday 18th May 2018, 6.30pm - 8.30pm.
You’ll explore a future where plant bones and faked meat are your daily bread; your gastrophysical dining plate will be sonically seasoned and the extinct woolly mammoth is back on the menu.
Joining us on the evening will be the ‘Grand Dame’ of Eating Experience and Food Revolutionary Marije Vogelzang; Professor of the Senses, experimental psychologist and neuroscientist Prof. Charles Spence and food-experience mavericks Bompas & Parr.

Find out more and buy your ticket here

Marije Vogelzang
“All my designs end up in the toilet” declares Marije Vogelzang who has been attributed to defining a whole new discipline of ‘eating-design’ through her performances, experiences, curation and objects. Driven by the multi-various issues surrounding the vast topic of ‘food’ - from food shortages to waste, allergies and obesity, Marije’s urgent mission is for designers to find solutions to these problems, and not to rely on industry to come to the rescue. Her provocative, critical design-for-debate generates the kind of ideas you can’t ‘unsee’ or ‘untaste’.
At the V&A Future Series, Marije will be discussing how breakthrough's in synthetic biology may pave the way for new delicious, edible, cruelty-free organisms. Think animals that come naturally 'smoked' season by ingesting volcano ash and the arrival of 'plant bones' on the menu. How can design shift perception of what we already have, instead of generating more stuff unnecessarily?
Sam Bompas | Bompas & Parr
From inhalable gin clouds to multi-sensory fireworks, architectural jelly to DNA-based dinners, Bompas & Parr is a studio that continually generates world-firsts and has helped shaped the world of multi-sensory experience design as we know it. Founded by Sam Bompas and Harry Parr, the multi-disciplinary studio comprises cooks and structural engineers, film-makers and psychologists to create installations, experiences and artworks that lead the cultural conversation.
At the V&A Future Series, among other topics Bompas & Parr will explore a future where your meal 'talks back' to you through wearable tech and genetic modification shakes off its stigma, perceived instead as a creative tool for generating fantasy, or near impossible foods. Imagine if you will an extinct woolly mammoth back on the menu? Or a beer flavoured with the microorganism inhabitants of Roald Dahl?
Prof. Charles Spence
Professor Charles Spence is a multi-award winning expert in the field of multi-sensory perception and neuroscience-inspired design. He founded the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University bringing together an interdisciplinary team of psychologists, designers, sensory scientists, chefs, composers and marketers, who apply neuroscientific insights to sensorially-stimulating consumer product designs and services. It was through Heston Blumenthal’s collaborations with Spence (2002 onwards) that The Fat Duck’s infamous Sound of the Sea dish materialised.
At the V&A Future Series, Charles will be discussing the forthcoming ‘Sonic Seasoning’ revolution; the repositioning of ubiquitous technologies like mobile devices and smartphones to enhance the dining experience; and the developmental process behind the world’s first Gastrophysics Plateware range, unveiled at this year’s Milan Design Week.

Coming soon:
V&A Future Series: Cities Friday 20th July 2018
V&A Future Series: Fashion Friday 14th September 2018
V&A Future Series: Design for Change Friday 19th October 2018
In collaboration with the Victoria & Albert Museum London
Propela.co.uk | info@propela.co.uk | vam.ac.uk