Art Paving the Way for the "Taste" of the Future: "What's the Matter? 002" Event Report
Artist / Head of "food creation"
Born in Ishikawa Prefecture. After graduating from Kanazawa College of Art, she started her activities with food creation in 2006, serving as its head. She has presented numerous works related to food themed on desire, curiosity, and evolution through methods such as performing arts, installations, and dining experiences. By dealing with "food" as a medium that can appeal to the instinctive unconscious senses, her works, which communicate inherent sensations such as emotions and memories through "taste," provide participants with new questions and discoveries. She is pursuing new possibilities of food that is neither gourmet nor a source of nutrition or energy.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo
Interactive media researcher / Media artist
After obtaining a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo, he served as a lecturer and associate professor at Keio University. After research stays at MIT, he has been involved in research and education at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo since 2018. In addition to research and production of works aiming to enhance real-world experiences using display and interface technologies, he has recently presented many pieces that manipulate the physical properties of materials and installation works under the theme of Material Experience Design.
Experiencing / Tasting Emotions in a Full Course
The talk began with an introduction to Suwa's previous activities. The first work presented by Suwa was in 2008, titled “Sensuous Food, Emotional Taste.” This work incorporates the concept of experiencing human emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, and pleasure through food, consisting of bite-sized portions named after tastes like "bittersweet regret," "a taste that brings up anger," "a refreshing taste," and "the taste of happiness." These were offered both at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and simultaneously in the food section underground at Isetan Shinjuku, attempting to present the same concept in both an art museum and a food consumption venue. This work was also introduced globally as a "guerrilla restaurant" menu, open for only a few days in unlikely locations such as underground passages in stations, attics of former mint buildings, and construction sites for commercial buildings.
