Taste in Art was a site-specific performance that occurred twice in May of 2014.
The performance (and its ephemera) was included within the exhibit YOU MADE IT, curated by Christopher Stiegler at Flux Factory in Queens, NY and was also a part of the 2014 Open Engagement conference.
During the performances, I licked visitors to the exhibit and wrote tasting notes on them as if they were fine wines, using a template that referenced the esthetics of ZAGAT, Art in America, and Wine Spectator. It also included language from Pierre Bourdieu—his ideas were very prominent within the 2014 conference.
Dressed in catering attire, I tasted each person, swashed their flavor around in my mouth, spat into a spittoon, and cleansed my palate with water before contemplating and describing their flavors. After this process was completed, I found the person I had tasted and read and discussed the notes with them. The most predominant response when I discussed people's notes with them was that they or their friends felt that the tasting was "true"—that the description had captured something that was their essence in some way.
Between the two performances, I licked a total of 21 people (but had to turn away many more,) including Flux Factory community members; party-goers at the exhibit opening; artists, arts programmers, and arts administrators from around the world attending the conference; and a few people who seemed to have just wandered in off the street.
Photo credit: Ayden L.M. Grout.