Taste Cartographies

Taste Cartographies - No. 1-4

Taste is used here as a research instrument, not a metaphor. Each of the four works (not all shown in images) translates a regional ecological transformation into a reproducible, time-based edible score paired with a data-driven abstract drawing that represents perceived taste. Together, an instructional certificate (containing the edible score), a data-driven abstract drawing, and a Bioregional Context Dossier form a single artwork that can be performed, conserved, and collected.

Drawing legend. Each composition visualizes human taste perception of the edible score as abstract form. Color encodes the perception of taste attributes (acid/salt/sweet/bitter/umami/floral/oceanic) and size encodes intensity. Some drawings may additionally encode aromatic volatility, persistence, mineral/saline granularity and more. Variables are intentionally unlabeled to invite direct, personal exploration of relational taste.

Shared base; past & future. All four works share a common, egg-free Sicilian gelato base so differences in taste arise from ecology, not the chassis. Sicily’s method—starch base, locust-bean gum, low overrun, rapid hardening—was built for heat and helps retain fragile aromatics (e.g., citrus, pistachio). As Santa Barbara warms and dries, this approach serves as a climate analogue, pairing inherited technique with changing ecologies so you can taste where flavor came from—and where it’s going. Italian—often Sicilian—immigrants also carried versions of these practices to the West Coast, shaping local ice-cream culture. Etna’s volcanic soils and California’s fire-affected soils differ, but both show how disturbance writes itself into flavor.

First installation: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) x UC Santa Barbara, California, 2025.