BASEL.- «Amuse-bouche. The Taste of Art» is the third art experiment at Museum Tinguely, entering the world of the human senses. These play an essential role in the experience of art. Our perception is always multi-sensory and strongly influenced by indivual emotions and memories. Especially regarding the sense of taste, it often cannot be separated from the sense of smell or the sense of sight. «Amuse-bouche» focuses on the sense of taste and poses the question: Does art taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or even umami? What role does our sense of taste play as an artistic material and in our social interactions?

In traditional accounts of the senses, taste is predicated on direct physical contact. We perceive the world around us in all its diversity through the physical sensation of taste in the mouth and on the tongue. The exhibition at Museum Tinguely poses various questions concerning our many fields of taste-related experience: How do we perceive art made of foods and their specific nuances of taste? What happens when our mouth and tongue suddenly take centre stage in the art experience? Can artworks address the sense of taste even without direct physical contact to the viewer? Can gustatory experiences be described and translated into pictures? Can flavour serve as a medium of artistic expression and creativity?

«Amuse-bouche. The Taste of Art» includes allegorical depictions of the sense of taste by Baroque masters, works by avant-garde artists of the early 20th century and exhibits from the 1960s and ’70s. The main focus is on a representative selection of paintings, photographs, sculptures, video works and installations from the past thirty years, all of which address the ingestion and tasting of food in a variety of ways.

Some of the works on display can be tasted during special guided tours and performances. On particular days, visitors can sample edible plants in the Hortus Deliciarum, an installation- and performance-based project by the Portuguese artist Marisa Benjamim, or the monumental participatory works made of gingerbread cookies by the Australian artist Elizabeth Willing. Sauerkraut juice labelled «Brine and Punishment» features in a large-scale installation by Slavs and Tatars, a Berlin-based artists’ collective. This sharp-tasting power drink provides a sensory experience within the artist’s philosophical engagement with the many-layered meanings and interpretations of fermentation and «going sour».

The show includes works by artists including Sonja Alhäuser, Farah Al Qasimi, Janine Antoni, Marisa Benjamim, Joseph Beuys, George Brecht, Pol Bury, Costantino Ciervo, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Bea de Visser, Marcel Duchamp, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Urs Fischer, Fischli/Weiss, Karl Gerstner, Damien Hirst, Roelof Louw, Sarah Lucas, Opavivará!, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Cildo Meireles, Alexandra Meyer, Antonio Miralda-Dorothée Selz, Nicolas Momein, Anca Munteanu Rimnic, Otobong Nkanga, Emeka Ogboh, Dennis Oppenheim, Meret Oppenheim, Tobias Rehberger, Torbjørn Rødland, Dieter Roth, Roman Signer, Cindy Sherman, Shimabuku, Slavs and Tatars, Daniel Spoerri, Mladen Stilinović, Sam Taylor-Johnson, André Thomkins, Jorinde Voigt, Claudia Vogel, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, Elizabeth Willing, Erwin Wurm, Rémy Zaugg.