The local dining production company, Dig & Serve, along with Storylab Interactive and Chef David Ruiz, design immersive digital dining experience in abandoned big box store.

photos by Mario Caldwell · video by JAK Media

From June 26 – July 1, five pop-up dining events titled “Hello, Space.” were held at the new Storylab Interactive headquarters on the Westside of Albuquerque. The digital media company worked together with Dig & Serve to produce a fully interactive dining experience featuring video projection mapping technology, locally sourced food, and a narrative that took diners to outer space and alien planets! Set in an old empty Staples building, the entire set for the dinner was designed and built specifically for the digital experience with video projections happening on the ground, walls, dining table, and even inside a geodesic dome.

“The Hello, Space experience was unlike anything done in Albuquerque before and maybe even the country,” says John-Marks Collins, CEO of Storylab. “We designed an entire interactive digital environment with over 40 projectors and multiple projection surfaces. We wanted to give guests a taste of what we can do with this technology as well as find uses for empty big-box retail centers.” One of the nights was sponsored by Meow Wolf as a show of support for local up-and-coming experience-based businesses.

Chef David Ruiz joined the Dig & Serve team for the event and designed a menu highlighting local produce and meats. “We wanted to create a menu that was as visually engaging as the digital projections,” Chef Ruiz said. “We accomplished this by using different colors, textures, and intricate plating.” Farms included in the dinner were Silver Leaf Farms, Four Moon’s Farm, Vida Verde Farm, Keller’s Farm Store, Simple Revolution Farm, and others from the Albuquerque Downtown Growers’ Market.

Hello, Space was the first collaboration between Dig & Serve and Storylab Interactive. “This event was just the tip of the iceberg. In the future, we hope produce much larger scale dining events utilizing the projection mapping technology. When passionate local business teams join forces to create a memorable experience, there is really no limit to what we can do.” Brandon Gregoire, Owner of Dig & Serve.

The next event is not yet on the calendar but the two companies do plan on another collaboration sometime in the near future. To receive notifications for upcoming events, sign up on Dig & Serve’s website to receive exclusive event invitations.

Check out the event VIDEO HERE.
Check out the Behind the Scenes BTS VIDEO HERE.

About Dig & Serve

Dig & Serve® hosts experiential dining events for curious diners to come together at a common table, in an engaging space to share in impeccable food and drink with great people. We are committed to using only the highest quality (mostly) local ingredients, grown by us and other farmers we know and trust. We transform unique locations for 24 hours where culinary artisans push the boundaries of social food.

At Dig & Serve® we aim to create a new type of bespoke dining experience. One where the food is not just absolutely ridiculous, but where going out for dinner becomes far more engaging and experiential than it ever has before. Where diners do not only sit and talk with the group they go out with, but rather they connect and share with others in the community, creating a paradigm shift to the typical, while going back to the roots of how we’ve eaten for thousands of years.

Along with pop-ups, Dig & Serve® specializes in producing exclusive private events at a client’s home, office, or a special venue. Events range from basic dinner parties to elaborate dinner, art, and musical performances. Our team works closely with the host to ensure their vision is brought to life. Each event is unique and masterfully created with an exquisite attention to detail.

About Storylab:

Storylab is an interactive experience company focused on telling your stories through technological wizardry. We like to focus on place-based (both physical and virtual) interactions and experiences. Storylab creates technology-driven interactive and immersive experiences for research, education, entertainment, dining, art and engagement. The best experiences are memorable experiences. Memorable experiences are those that create emotional connections. Making experiences personal and relatable for users, Storylab tailors each solution to the needs of the space, client and audience. Storylab takes interactive design to a new level as we focus on the visitor’s motion through a space as the primary driver for contextual experiences and content.

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Edible celebrates New Mexico's food culture, season by season. We believe that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing. With our high-quality, aesthetically pleasing and informative publication, we inspire readers to support and celebrate the growers, producers, chefs, beverage and food artisans, and other food professionals in our community.