chris salter + tez + david howes: displace 2.0

displace 2.0: performative sensory environment chris salter + tez + david howes in collaboration with jorg hempenius, jonathan reus, harry smoak, david szanto and caro verbeek http://mosensation.net

todaysart 2012 tag space stille verkaade 19 the hague, the netherlands friday, september 21: 18:00-1:00 saturday, september 22: 13:00-1:00 symposium, saturday, september 22, 13:15-16:00 http://todaysart.org/2012/

displace is a performative environment and laboratory where multi-sensory experience is put in the foreground. informed by sensory anthropology, the project has been developed by an international team of artists/researchers in computer based arts and design, anthropology, gastronomic and olfactory design and sensory history. in displace 2.0 at the annual today’s art international festival beyond art in the hague, the netherlands, groups of visitors progress through a series of environments in the former tag gallery space. they experience sensory-based actions that intermingle olfactory, gustatory, visual, sonic, haptic and proprioceptive stimuli. at first, these sensory modalities are separated from each other but then they grow over time to convoke intense, almost hallucinatory sensations merging to the point of saturation.  

participants move through a series of environments that combine and mix all of the senses. the following images depict aspects of these environments.

displace is one of series of works conducted within the context of a larger research project entitled ‘mediations of sensation’ developed and directed by artist/researcher chris salter and anthropologist david howes. the aim of  ‘mediations’ is to create a space where contemporary art/design practice can be informed by advanced research in sensory anthropology and history and vice versa. sensory anthropology is dedicated to exploring how the senses are distinguished, ranked, mixed, deployed and enjoyed in different cultural settings. displace mirrors this anthropological experience by offering a sensorially compelling, technologically augmented series of experiential environments designed to open a crack in the conventional western sensorium and transport the visitor into a parallel sensory world.

hexagon room – informed by the color energies present in the psychedelic yaje rituals of the desana indians of northern columbia, participants ritualistically are brought onto a hexagonal platform and experience an intense composition of flicker based light and multichannel ambisonic sound (design tez, chris salter, harry smoak)

forest – participants move through a grove of scented trees which produce streams of light.

liquid experience: room in which intensely flavored liquids create an occasion for social interaction and experimentation. designed by gastronomic designer david szanto, the liquids are meant to extract the essence of gustation without referring to the cultural object of food.

based on their various colors, participants debate which of the liquids to try.

participantsʼ interaction with the liquids varies based on group social dynamics.

hexagons – agar constructed hexagons eaten by participants on the hexagon platform. these forms resonate with the sacred geometry of the hexagon found in many cultures studied by ethnographers as well as invoke 1970s science fiction films like loganʼs run and soylent green.

gustation tests for displace 2.0. working with the four tastes of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and the trigeminal sensations of astringency and piquancy, the gustation elements of displace 2.0 are designed to invoke multiple sensory modalities: the haptic, olfactory, auditory and visual.

gustatory elements are combined with specially designed smells designed by smell researcher caro verbeek and smell artist jorg hempenius which are modulated over time throughout the environments.