During Uncommon Senses III I’m conducting a series of live Air Reports. Each report is a brief written sensory analysis of the visual, haptic and olfactory qualities of the air as I experience it at that moment. Constituting a kind of research-as-performance, these reports will be published in real time on this webpage, on social media at http://twitter.com/airtasting and archived at http://airtasting.com. Conducted throughout the day from my balcony in the west end of Vancouver, they bring to light the atmospheric context of the conference and produce a sensory recording that runs in parallel with the conference proceedings. 

 

The Air Reports are part of my 12-year Air Tasting practice of studying, presenting and facilitating experiences of the air. Through sensory workshops, walking tours and presentations I bring people to a direct awareness of atmospheric phenomena and of the air as our shared habitat. 

 

The Air Tasting practice revolves around a tasting method of directed perception based on the sensory analysis techniques of famous enologist Emile Peynaud and sensory chemist Ann C. Noble. It employs a combination of observation, writing and discussion to engage people in an embodied exploration of the air as a speculative object. Through this mode of experiential study Air Tasting aims to develop tools and methods of perceptual investigation and to facilitate a critical understanding of sensory perception and of our relationship to the air. More info at http://airtasting.com.