multi-sensory appreciation and practice

228 Pages·2015·3.42 MB·English

MULTI-SENSORY APPRECIATION AND PRACTICE:
A SOMAESTHETIC APPROACH TO THE
EXPLORATION OF TASTE SMELL AND TOUCH IN
FOOD-BASED ART

EVERLYN NYANGIRO

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of
Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
March 2015
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MULTI-SENSORY APPRECIATION AND PRACTICE:
A SOMAESTHETIC APPROACH TO THE EXPLORATION
OF TASTE SMELL AND TOUCH IN FOOD-BASED ART

EVERLYN NYANGIRO

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of
Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
March 2015
This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the
University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for
any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments,
references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of
the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person.
The right of Everlyn Nyangiro to be identified as author of this work is asserted in
accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. At this date
copyright is owned by the author.
Signature………………………………………..
Date……………………………………………..
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‘Shusterman is recognising the aesthetic possibilities of food and drink, and although he
does not pursue this line of inquiry, the aesthetics of food is comfortably located within the
larger project of Somaesthetics as a whole. What Shusterman is noting however is that the
aesthetic experience of food will likely require somatic training in order to develop the
experiential acuity required to perceive the often subtle differences that distinguish an
aesthetic experience from a merely gustatory experience’.
- Russell Pryba, 2012

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i. ABSTRACT
Even though food-based artworks are no longer a new occurrence within art practice, the
particular practice of food that uses taste, smell and touch as artistic medium is still
relatively new. This practice poses new challenges at both the creative and receptive ends:
for the audience the challenge is linked to understanding and relating with the artwork
while for the artist it involves directing the audience’s engagement.
Under the theoretical lens of Somaesthetics and Langer’s Mindfulness discourse, this thesis
has examined what it means to appreciate food-based artworks through taste, smell and
touch. It has also investigated ways in which this form of practice can be developed further.
Practice within the research has been used as a means of thinking through the creative
choices taken by artists with the purpose of understanding how perceptibility and
engagement with food-based works through taste, smell and touch can be enhanced. Some
of the key references include Miwa Koizumi’s NY flavors, Burkhard Bacher & Herbert
Hinter’s Landscape, Maki Ueda’s Aromascape, and several works by Sam Bompas and Harry
Parr amongst others.
The outcome of the research include: the development of an attentive discourse of
appreciation which outlines the conditions necessary for the appreciation of food-based
artwork through its taste, smell and touch; and the articulation of creative strategies that
can be used by artists to enhance the perceptibility of taste, smell and touch and encourage
engagement.
The contributions to knowledge made by this thesis include: The introduction of a new
genre of food-based practice; the use of Somaesthetics and Mindfulness as a lens to
examine the appreciation of food-based art; the identification of new concerns within
practice facing artists using food’s taste, smell and touch as medium; and the new form of
encounter with art that requires a mindful-somatic attentiveness.

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ii. TABLE OF CONTENTS

i. Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………7
ii. Table of contents……………………………………………………………………….9
iii. List of figures……………………………………………………………………………..13
iv. Glossary……………………………………………………………………………………..15
v. Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………..18

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………20
1.1 The problem of visual-dominance……………………………………………………….21
1.2 The transformative potential of food…………………………………………………..24
1.3 Identifying the knowledge gap in the appreciation of food-based art….26
1.4 The research questions…………………………………………………………………………30
1.5 The structure of the thesis……………………………………………………………………32
1.6 Chapter summary…………………………………………………………………………………34

2. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………36
2.1 Adopting a critical approach…………………………………………………………………36
2.2 The theoretical methods……………………………………………………………………….38
2.2.1 Ideology critique………………………………………………………………………..38
2.2.2 Concept analysis…………………………………………………………………………41
2.3 Reflexive practice as a practical method…………………………………………………43
2.4 The Somaesthetic and mindful lens………………………………………………………..47
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2.4.1 Somaesthetics and art related research……………………………………………….50
2.4.2 Experiential dimensions of Pragmatic Somaesthetics and Mindfulness…51
2.5 The artist’s role as researcher…………………………………………………………………………..54
2.6 Ethical considerations……………………………………………………………………………………….55
2.6.1 Food safety measures……………………………………………………………………………56
2.6.2 Use of questionnaires………………………………………………………………………………56
2.7 Documenting non-visual senses………………………………………………………………………..56
2.8 Chapter summary……………………………………………………………………………………………..58

3. Food in art practice…………………………………………………………………………………………….60
3.1 The 20th century avant-garde’s influence in the use of food within art……………60
3.2 Food and eating within the Italian Futurism…………………………………………………….61
3.3 Eat art and Fluxus……………………………………………………………………………………………..64
3.4 Food and eating in Post-modernity…………………………………………………………………..68
3.5 A return to the senses………………………………………………………………………………………73
3.6 Chapter summary…………………………………………………………………………………………….78

4. The creative potential of food’s taste, smell and touch………………………………………80
4.1 The nature of the bodily senses taste, smell and touch……………………………………80
4.1.1 Taste…………………………………………………………………………………………………….80
4.1.2 Smell…………………………………………………………………………………………………….83
4.1.3 Touch……………………………………………………………………………………………………87
4.2 Aesthetic experiences enabled through eating………………………………………………..90
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