No, that is not one of the rather over the top hats from the royal wedding this weekend. It is instead the work of mulitmedia artist Marcos Lutyens. And what you are seeing in the picture is what that cocktail tastes like to her. More accurately, (I think) it reflects changes in her brain activity as measured by the headset she is wearing, when she sips a highly flavored cocktail.

I think the results are gorgeous. If you are in England, you could see a large, and I hope interactive, exhibit of this work at the FutureEverything festival in Manchester in mid-May. Absolut is sponsoring the exhibit, which I heartily approve of, since a future without booze is no future for me.

So if any of my UK readers attend this thing, I have some questions. First, there are huge variations in the pictures produced by this technique. (Excellent slideshow here.) What changes the image? Is it dependent on the flavors of the drink, the individual drinker, or existing level of intoxication? Are effects duplicateable? And when can I buy the cocktail book using these images instead of drink pix for illustrations?

(Via Gizmodo)