“Oh wow, you’re turning into an old woman! And I’m a Viking!” Two of us sat enraptured at XR Bar at ARTECHOUSE NYC (ATH NYC), an extended reality experience that fuses art with mixology. The drinks were unique and delicious (we’ll get to that later). The surrounding digital artwork was immersive, immensely trippy and ideally suited to experience lying down with a cocktail sippy cup in hand.
But it was the experience behind the bar counter that reeled us in. Using multiple cameras and AI image generation models, our likenesses morphed every 10 to 15 seconds into impressionist art. As bar entertainment goes, it was a hell of a lot more fun than staring at a TV.
But it didn’t distract (well, not too much) from the drinks. This fall, XR Bar crafted cocktails and mocktails inspired by “Flashback 5,” an exhibit celebrating five years of work from artists ranging from the collective fuse* to NASA (as in the space agency). They also paired these cocktails with special cards/markers that get activated through the Artechouse app, so you can see brilliant and funky extended reality art both on and around your drinks.
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Yes, you can technically take the cards and the app and use them anywhere, but they pair best with their intended cocktails at XR Bar — and you can only get new cards and the corresponding digital art experiences when you order drinks at Artechouse locations (in D.C., Houston and New York).
It should be noted that the cocktails alone, sans the art, also stand out. “Our entire menu is made in-house with proprietary spirits,” Acimovic says. “There’s nothing artificial and no additives. We’re trying multi-sensory and unconventional flavor pairings, often using a culinary approach.” To that end, the highlight here was Trust, a Negroni-adjacent drink built from spiced rum, Lillet Blanc, strawberry-infused Campari and lemon sorbet that you alternately sip and spoon (the sorbet, that is).
Flashback 5 and its XR Bar menu run through November 17. A few days later, it’s replaced by a holiday exhibit called “Tingle Bells,” complete with new holiday-inspired cocktails.
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