Air-Lixir

For Air-Lixir the artist temporarily converted the AirSpace Gallery (Stoke-on-Trent, UK) into a micro-winery producing mead (honey wine). Fortuitously the fermentation process of the mead closely coincided with the duration of the residency, so that samples of the wine could be shared at the opening event of the residency project. Collaborative aspects of this ACE-funded project involved contacting local businesses, groups and individuals, before and during the residency, so as to source all ingredients and equipment needed within the mead production (this included the Co-op Group, Youngs Brewery Group, and local Bee-Keepers). Interested in how the changing aromas of fermentation would be experienced the artist also experimented by circuiting the scent of honey via diffusers within the gallery space. Jars of honey stacked in a pyramid form (a surplus from the mead production) gave a physical presence to the airborne scent of honey. Extending an interest in conceptual connections between the fields of scent and music an accompanying soundtrack list and score titled Twenty-One Songs (For My Honey) included songs one per year (1963 to 2015) all of which included the word honey in the title. The works title Air-Lixir references the panacea of the original mythical elixir, as well as the transient nature of sound and scent.

Dimensions variable.
Mead (honey wine), carboys and airlocks, plinths, honey jar stack, soundtrack, accompanying music, scent composition (Notes of: Honey).