Taste! Experiments for the senses

What is taste? How does it change? How can we shape our tasting experiences?
We often taste without paying much attention to the experience — although tasting is a central part of our encounters with the world. When we eat, we incorporate a part of the world around us into our bodies. When we taste, we feel, structure, and evaluate our relationship with the world. We create meaning with our senses — with our mouths and noses, our throats and stomachs, and also with our eyes, our hands, and our head. How does this work? Why do some things taste good sometimes and not so good on other occasions?

As you work through the exhibition, you will explore one element with an effect on taste in each phase. There are six phases altogether. You will experiment, for instance, with the expectations we have as we approach food, the sounds we hear while eating and the utensils we use to eat. You will be able to select and combine various foods. In each phase, you will try out several variations and then reach a decision. In the last phase, you will combine all the previously selected variants. This will allow you to discover how eating can be done and experienced differently in a tasting situation you have composed yourself.

Event information

• The experiments involve tasting food which is provided.
• The exhibition complies with the current COVID-19 guidelines of the Federal State of Berlin as they pertain to restaurants and museums.
• Allergens have been avoided where possible and are declared.
• Entry to the exhibition is limited to adults and children aged 12 or over. 
• Trying out all six experiments takes approximately 45 minutes.
• Reservation of time slots via Eventbrite possible, but not necessary

The exhibition is part of the citizen science project “Schmeck! Practices and aesthetics of eating in the governance of a sustainable transformation of food systems” directed by Jan-Peter Voß and Nina Langen and funded by the Executive Board of TU Berlin

Related links

• Information about the Experimental Field
• Information about "Schmeck! Forschungsprojekt zur Praxis & Ästhetik des Essens" der TU Berlin: Schmeck!

Concept: Michael Guggenheim and Jan-Peter Voß
Collaboration: Nora Rigamonti
Assistance: Aline Haulsen and Max Söding
Exhibition design and technological support: Luise Wilhelm und Sascha Schneider, Kollegen 2,3 Bureau für Kulturangelegenheiten; Larissa Siemon and Alexander Naumann
We thank all co-researchers involved in the TU Berlin project “Schmeck!” (“Taste!”)”