A Sensual Soirée
is an exploration of art as food, and food as art through the sensual and subtley erotic. This sensory and sensual experience debuted as a tablescape of a surreal seafood feast overflowing with bivulvas, bejewled lobster tails and finger shrimp displayed on decadant glass chalices and platters. Accompanying the installation for one night was interactive tasting where the participants became the collaborators, their remnants the art. See description below for more details on the full experience.
Photos by Ben Gebo
About the event and concept -
Artist Kyle Browne curated an immersive space featuring her artwork, a hand-decorated vulvic dress, bespoke cocktails, a unique musical composition and foraged food ingredients to bring A Sensual Soirée to life for 16 participants. Each round of the 7-course tasting was prefaced with a prompt to engage participants in an enhanced sensory and sensual experience. The glassware was hand-sourced by Kyle and no dishes were cleared, they were intentionally balanced on one another and left on the pedestals (which served as cocktail tables) which invited participants to become collaborators in the art. The remnants of the experience, which are documented in slideshow above, were displayed alongside the original art, creating a conversation between the two for the public to then consider, delight in and question.
The Prompts
Round 1: Raw Oysters, Ungarnished
The plain oyster in her full glory. This may very well be my favorite. The raw oyster with no garnish, no sauce, pure unadultered ocean. This is the closest thing to becoming part of the sea. But before you taste its brinyness, peer into the shell, into the flesh and notice the beautiful transluscent colors, the delicate layers, the gorgeous feminine folds and tell me you aren’t getting turned on. Aphrodite incarnate in the shell that holds the ancient wisdom of the sea.
Round 2: Citrus
Imagine a little sunshine on your tongue, “Citrus spray fills the air, nails dig in, thin yellow skin, lips pucker, body shivers”
Round 3 : Raw Oysters, Savory Garnish - hen of the woods mushrooms
The pairing of ocean and earth. Smell. How does your olfactory sense take in this combo of pungent odor, low tide and fungus. Is there desire? Disgust? A mixture of both - compelling you to try? Just notice.
Round 4: Frozen Grapes & Currants
Fruits of abundance. Take in the colors, a complimentary red and green. In the dark, dull winter, how do they nourish your souul?
The blushing currants, abundant berries, fertility. Let the grape roll around your mouth, luscious, before biting into the frozen flesh… perhaps pick up a bunch of currants, playfully feed them to yourself - or a neighbor!
Round 5: Raw Oysters, Sweet Garnish - pickled crabapples
Now the pairing of sweet and briny - notice how even the textures are contradictory… after you take a taste, tell your table what you experienced.
Round 6: Fig, Goat Cheese, Agave Drizzle on Seeded Cracker
“The fig is a very secretive fruit. As you see it standing, growing you feel at once it is symbolic. And it seems male. But when you come to know it better, you agree with the Romans, it is female. The Italians vulgarly say it stands for the female part, the fig fruit. The fissure, the yoni, the wonderfully moist conductivity towards the center. Involved, inturned, the flowering. It was always a secret. That’s how it should be, the female should always be a secret” D.H. Lawrence
Round 7: Sparkling Wine Jello Shots in Oyster Shells
Pure Delight!
Round 8: Chocolate Strawberries
This is our final taste, closing with sweetness with a dessert specifically made to activate love and desire. A decadent pairing. Imagine the strawberry is your lover, it’s giving itself to you as you indulge in a luscious kiss