Dr. Classen is the author of numerous essays and books on the cultural life of the senses, including The Color of Angels: Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination (Routledge, 1998), Worlds of Sense: Exploring the Senses in History and across Cultures (Routledge, 1993), and Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell (Routledge, 1994, co-authored with David Howes and Anthony Synnott). She is also the editor of The Book of Touch, a collection of essays on the history, sociology and anthropology of touch published in 2005 by Berg of Oxford. Recently she has been a visiting fellow at the Canadian Centre for Architecture where she investigated the social and sensory history of architectural design and museum display. Her latest book is titled The Deepest Sense: A cultural history of touch (University of Illinois Press, 2012).

Mrs Geneviève Emond is the General Manager of Bota Bota Spa. She earned a bachelor in business administration from HEC and an MBA from INSEAD. Geneviève has considerable experience in the beauty industry, having worked notably for Yves Rocher North America. Bota Bota is housed in a commercial transportation vessel that was converted first into a summer theater and then into a spa that is now permanently moored in Montreal’s Old Port. It is a place of relaxation, escape and sensory exploration.

Open to the public.