SKIN HUNGER

“Skin Hunger” fulfils the lack of physical contact in our modern times by performing an individual tactile breakfast experience. Artist chef Alice Héron and artist-in-residence Margherita Soldati explore the relationship between tactility and food through a 5 course breakfast experience. Skin Hunger combines massage and breathing exercises with food and bite-size sensorial dishes.”

“Skin Hunger” was a breakfast event served in the greenhouses of Mediamatic. Defined as the biological need for human touch, 'skin hunger' is a driving force connecting humans together through our tactile sensitivities. This culinary event is a response to the social distancing and lack of human contact during the initial stages of the pandemic. How has the pandemic changed the way that you feel about touch and intimate encounters? This project emphasises that psychological nourishment is vital, and that our need to connect is as fundamental as our need to eat. My role within the project was to create all the dishes and invent a way to feed them to our guests, as well as creating different props to enhance the experience. One of the dish was called desensitising: I carefully removed the peel from three cherry tomatoes and meticulously beaded them on a yard-long bean. I used sichuan pepper bud from the aquaponic in season at this moment to surprise one of the tomatoes, giving the dish a numbing effect. The dishes I created were fed to the guests, at times blindfolded or other times with their hands tied, as to take away one or more of the guests senses to heighten their others.⁠