Material: video projector,snack envelope,Scent Diffuser (Madeleine & bread smell)
First taste, first smell
We all have our childhood memories, even if we have forgotten them. But there are a few moments that involuntarily make us travel to this forgotten world. In Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", a man eats small madeleines soaked in tea, and brings out the reminiscence of his childhood. I imagine the first experience of a child eating snacks like chocolate, cake or madeleine. Even though he has become an adult, this surprise moment remains deep in his heart. If, one day, he still meets the same taste, perhaps he is traveling to this past moment, to this world of the past.
Having tasted madeleine for the first time in France, I like to imagine the feeling felt by the protagonist of the novel. What memories do I have of it? What were my childhood sweets? To more actively meet my memories, I try to mobilize some elements of synesthesia. First, I pronounce the word "candy" [gwa-ja] softly like a whisper in my native language. As an adult, I put that word aside and lived as if it had nothing to do with me. It’s not a special and exciting word anymore, it’s just become one of the names of regular food. When I repeat this word a little shyly, I feel like a kid who wants sweets. Then comes the feeling of the shape of the mouth I sang when I was young and the thrill of excitement contained at the tip of that little tongue. The word "candy" is filled with floating anticipation. I become a little mouth with the smile of a child and bite the madeleine in front of me. The somewhat unfamiliar but sweet and sweet taste of the madeleine that I tasted for the first time brings me to a moment in the past that opened up a new taste menu. Depending on the sensations that madeleine gives me, I come to childhood, I who rejoice by eating small soft egg cookies. The candy seems to have retained some of the joy of everyone's childhood in that word, in texture and flavor all the time. The pure emotion of joy in times of the past is projected and connected to my adult present while tasting madeleine.
