The use of standard electrode potentials to predict the taste of solid metals

Not all metals taste equally metallic when placed in the mouth. While much work has been done to examine the metallic taste sensations arising from metal ions in solutions, there is comparatively less known about the taste of solid metals. In this study seven metals in the form of spoons were used to compare the perception of taste arising from solid utensils placed inside the mouth. 32 participants tasted seven spoons of identical dimensions plated with each of the following metals: gold, silver, zinc, copper, tin, chrome and stainless steel. More negative standard electrode potentials were found to be good predictors of solid metals that had tastes scoring highest for the taste descriptors strong, bitter, and metallic. Thus, it was found that both gold and chrome (having the most positive standard electrode potentials) were considered the least metallic, least bitter and least strong tasting of the spoons. Zinc and copper (having the most negative standard electrode potentials) were the strongest, most metallic, most bitter, and least sweet tasting of the spoons. We conclude that gold and chrome have tastes that are less strong than metals with lower standard electrode potential

What Can The Matter Be?

'What can the matter be' is the title of an audio guide of selected works in the Tate Modern collection in which the matter of the artwork is forefronted and questioned. The designed tour is produced in MP3 format and selections are downloadable by the public from the Tate Modern website onto their private MP3 players prior to visiting the museum. The audio guide/tours were produced in partnership with the Education team at the Tate Modern

Design tools for interdisciplinary translation of material experiences

Designers increasingly have the opportunity to influence the development of materials as they emerge from the laboratory. In order for this to be successful, designers need to be able to communicate effectively with materials scientists so that materials can be developed with desired functionalities and properties. This paper reviews evidence in favour of using isomorphic sets of material stimuli as tools to bridge the disciplinary gap between designers and materials scientists. We show how these isomorphic sets and their accompanying experiments can be used to translate between the two communities, and to systematically explore the relationship between the technical attributes of materials and subjective experiences of their sound, taste and feel. This paper also explores the limitations of psychophysical approaches and other quantitative techniques for elucidating material experience, and suggests new possibilities for interdisciplinary collaborations that draw on ethnographic approaches

Launch event ‘The Sound of Materials’

recorded by Tate modern and available as MP3 download www.tate.org.uk/onlineevents/podcast

OuDePo

We instituted an Ouvroir de Design Potentielle (OuDePO), that is, a Workshop/Laboratory to Explore the Potential of Design, in the Design Department at Goldsmiths (University of London). The OuDePo was formed to initiate a pataphysical curriculum in order to have a ‘ludo-critical’ purchase on design and designing; and, in particular, the part design plays in enacting deleterious neo-liberal programmes (harming the natural world and producing iniquitous and hurtful social (dis)order). This publication outlines the thought behind the pataphysical design curriculum of the OuDePo, it includes a number of essays that distil the lectures given during the 10 week project set and also contains a record and description of the ‘seriously ludic’ project work of 13 ouvroirs (workshops) which were formed in the course of the project (viz. ‘Pataphysical Responses to some of the most Urgent and Intractable Problems of our Age’). The project ran from 10 Palotin146 (St Forficule, Barnabite) to 28 Gidouille 146 (Poche du Père Ubu)

Flesh

The Wellcome Trust sponsored Conreen et al to produce a series of exhibits, installations and live events in their gallery space to provide an insight into the materiality of flesh, and its connection with the Wellcome Collection; to human health and medicine. The approach was largely aimed at an affective visitor experience. The audience (approx. 300) were offered the opportunity to touch, feel, smell, cut, drill and even taste flesh. The ultimate aim of the exhibition was to provide a complement to the Wellcome Trust collection, enhancing visitor experience and extending their understanding of health and medicine through appreciating the material connections that work in these areas. Flesh, in its numerous guises and forms, was presented using the conceit of tables (referring to the dissecting table of medical research). The event was curated around the following titles: The Organ Table; The Dissection Table; Preserving Table; Eating Flesh; Flesh Eating; DNA Table; Skin Table; Cutting Table; Sawing and Drilling Table; The Eye Ball Table; The Gut Table; Mummification Table. Experts in flesh, such as surgeons, body builders, butchers, artists and scientists gave talks on flesh from their perspective throughout the duration of the event. A Life Drawing class was also part of the evening, to allow visitors to reacquaint themselves with the human body. The event was filmed and photographed for the Wellcome Trust archives. A catalogue for the event was produced

Materials Library Takes on Ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum

The Materials Library explores the science of ceramics at the Victoria & Albert Museum in celebration of the opening of the new Ceramics Galleries. From super sharp knives to superconductor levitation; catalytic converters to tiles of aluminium nitride that conduct the heat from one’s hand so efficiently they will cut ice like butter: experience some of the modern wonders of the ceramic world. And what is it about ceramics that makes for the perfect cup of tea? Join us for an experiment where you will be invited to taste tea out of cups of different materials under the supervision of Master tea taster Henrietta Lovell from the award winning Rare Tea Company. A wide range of other ceramic related activities (non Materials Library) will be on throughout the museum during the course of the evening