Tasty & Smelly

A journey of stories and senses came to its end. It was a journey that offered a new way to connect to art and a series of multi-sensory activities -Tasty & Smelly was a project that was designed by the students of the University of Westminster but took its final form by its visitors. Taking place at Tate Exchange, T&S was an experiment for everyone involved, as we invited people to share stories around taste and smell and participate in workshops with the main criterion being their... personal taste!

With over 2.000 people visiting Tasty & Smelly and participating in our workshops, T&S was the final project hosted by Tate Exchange for this year, and we have to say, we’re more than happy with the outcome. Some of our visitors were kind enough to talk to us about their experience, and most of them did recognise the project’s goal, to make them connect to art through taste and smell. So, enough about what we think, let’s hear it from you!

  “It’s a good way to start thinking of smells in relation to art.” - Michela

“It gave us a new perspective for evaluating.” - Clé “It’s an easy way to approach art for non-professional/academic people.” - Min

“Invigorating and exciting.” - Adam 

“Intellectually stimulating lusciousness.” - Chris  

“It gives you a unique way to see art.” - Eleanor 

 “You connect to art on a different level.” - Dani 

 “Personal, relatable.” - Gaby

“Different way of experiencing an exhibition, it's much more interactive.” - Adam

“Fabulous variety of different experiences and textures.” - David

“Art Jars,” as part of the Tasty & Smelly project, has originated with an idea that there is no objective reality of an artwork but rather a countless number of interpretations. We generally perceive our surroundings by employing all our senses. In an art gallery, however, it was always a common practice to leave the rest of our senses behind and concentrate on the visual only.

In this workshop, you will explore the unlimited possibilities of interpreting an artwork using uncommon media (spices) while bringing smell to the very front. The first phase will introduce and familiarize you with 12 pre-selected artworks from the Tate’s permanent collection. Copies of those artworks will be placed on a wall in the studio. Nearby, there will be shelves mirroring the same works. You will be asked to choose an artwork and interpret it by using variety of spices which you will place into twelve different glass jars. One jar will be displayed on each shelf, representing a subjective ‘viewpoint’ on an artwork.

The second phase, when the studio opens to the general public, this collection of ‘artworks in their own right’ will invite people to engage with them, smell them, compare them, take notes of their own interpretation, and discuss their views with their family, friends or with strangers. This session invites you, and others, to take ownership of great artworks by immersing yourself and interpreting them in your own way. It reminds people that there is no such thing as a right or wrong interpretation of an artwork. 

The Art Jars WORKSHOP will take place at 12:30 p.m. on the 29th April 2017 at the 5th Floor of Tate Modern. From 13:30 on, the DISPLAY of these spice interpretations will be available to the public. This display will be on until 16:00 on Sunday the 30th April.

There’s often a bit left in the jar.

You probably have something in your kitchen cupboard that you bought when you were travelling, or you brought from home, or that reminds you of home. A jar or bottle you never quite finished.

You probably have something in your kitchen cupboard that is nearly empty but hasn't been thrown away. Maybe you bought when you were travelling or you brought from home. A jar you never quite finished.

You pick it up, you unscrew the lid and you smell it. Possibly you throw it out but maybe you put it back.

The people who gave these jars added a note to say what they mean to them. You can do the same.

Open them and have a sniff. Arrange them in whatever way makes sense to you. But no licking please!

The Meditation Room, a part of the Tasty & Smelly project, is an immersive space where you are invited to take a break from this fast-paced world we live in. It will be like stepping into another dimension, created by relaxation and reconnection with their inner-self. You will be surrounded by music and changing perfumes used for visual stimulation. You can explore your other senses, such as smell, hearing and touch. 

Meditation sessions will take place on Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30 for 2 hours each. The sessions will introduce you to the benefits of listening to your whole body and mind.  We want to promote positive connection with art in the terms of the multisensory museum. Museums can be also open spaces where to re-find someone’s own balance.

Art can make calls on our preconceptions, memories and past experiences to shape our interpretation and understanding. At the same time, the taste and smell of food can evoke some of your strongest memories. 

During our ‘Biscuits’ workshop, you will be given the chance to explore the galleries of Tate Modern and draw inspiration from various artworks. You will then return to Tate Exchange and combine your feelings and memories, to express your inner creativity and create culinary masterpieces.

What would it be like if a gallery was an explosion of aromas rather than of colour and form?

Spices add vibrancy to dishes, give them greater impact and they draw out unrealised qualities from their ingredients. Combinations of spices can create subtle balances or sharp contrasts, come together to be gently aromatic or pack a punch.

Which spices do you prefer? Why do you like some more than others?

Some taste preferences are things we always carry with us and others we change and acquire over time. They might reflect our individuality or our cultural backgrounds. They reveal how we grow through our changing circumstances, histories and journeys across the globe.

We enter the gallery as individuals with multisensory perception. The gallery is not just a place where we experience things visually. As we stand in front of an artwork and contemplate it, we are drawing on the different facets of our perception. We make associations that enable us to decide what we like, to form our opinions and to construct meanings.

Artworks don’t often have the fragrance of spice. But Tasty & Smelly is asking you to imagine that they do.

If an artwork was spiced what spices would they be?

One of our Tate Exchange projects is called “More Than Words”. You will participate in workshop where you will interpret works of art that will be chosen from a pool of preselected art pieces. You are encouraged to write and talk about all the times that an art piece has made you remember an experience with food, or to just chat with the others in the workshops about how the pieces remind you of certain tastes, smells, textures, shapes, and emotions.

             We want you to ask each other and yourselves things such as

                             “What does a Tony Cragg smell like?”

                                                       Or

                          “How would a Louise Bourgeouis taste?”

In this one hour long adventure through tastes and smells, you will create your very own label to interpret the artwork in the Tate collection all without the use of any words.

So book today and have fun exploring art with all of your senses – and discover how much more you actually see!

Spaces are made of static, solid elements. Senses, including taste and smell, condition our spatial awareness and perception, which influences the way spaces appear to us.

The “Tea Project” aims to represent spaces within the TATE modern by using different tea blends. The association of different teas with certain spaces and the works of art within them challenges our preconceptions of physical space through a multi-sensory and personal experience. It will bring the multiple layers that form our spatial memory to the surface and link them the with particular spaces and/or exhibitions.

You will have the opportunity to walk around the Tate spaces and reflect on the pieces you see. Then, you will take what you saw and remember and make your own tea blend. By the end, you will have created something uniquely your own and whenever you drink this blend, you can reflect on the experience you had participating. Your spatial perceptions, experiences, and memories will be represented in single a tea bag.

Food Memories will explore ways in which food, through taste and smell, is linked to memory, emotion and personal identity. Visitors will be encouraged to write, draw, or generally be creative with their food memories and recipes.

Taste and smell are senses that are linked directly to memories and emotions. A smell or taste of something can transport us straight away to a particular time and place in our lives, or evoke a strong emotion. The smell of broccoli could make you want to throw up, because you were forced to eat it as a child. A single bite of an aromatic, sun-ripened tomato may take you back instantly to your nonna’s kitchen in Italy, feeling the happiness and security of your beloved grandmother.

Many of us who live in cosmopolitan cities grew up in other countries and cultures. We travel within these cities. We cross borders in search of new lives and opportunities. The food we eat is part of who we are, a connection to where we were born, to our families and the cultures we grew up in.  But our tastes can change and evolve, as we encounter new cuisines, new flavours, and new ingredients.

Come and share some food stories with us!

Fahrelnissa Zeid, Third Class Passengers, 1943

Andy Warhol - Marilyn Diptych, 1962