PERFORMANCE: Emotion Cookie Tasting by Kitchen Testimonies – The Art of Small 2026

Event Introduction

Join artist doğa çal for a participatory tasting performance where edible artworks invite visitors to experience emotions through flavour.

Developed as part of Kitchen Testimonies, an ongoing artistic practice exploring food, care, access, and social connection, Emotion Cookies transforms taste into a medium for reflecting on our inner emotional lives. Each handcrafted cookie appears identical on the outside, yet conceals a different filling, from rose to hot pepper, creating moments of surprise, anticipation, delight, discomfort, and discovery.

Presented under a glass dome, the cookies are exhibited as sculptural objects throughout The Art of Small exhibition (13–29 August, Myymälä2). During the performance on 20 August, visitors are invited to taste a cookie together with a score card and consume the artwork immediately, transforming the act of tasting into a shared artistic experience with the guided facilitation of the artist.

By translating invisible emotional states into edible encounters, Emotion Cookies explores the gap between outward appearance and inner experience. Each tasting event becomes a moment of conversation, care, and reflection, inviting participants to consider how emotions are anticipated, interpreted, resisted, and physically felt.

Kitchen Testimonies is a nomadic artistic practice conceived by doğa çal, continuously reconfiguring itself around kitchens, food, and eating through different participants and modes of participation. Its current practice focuses on creating inclusive social spaces that acknowledge diverse dietary needs within Helsinki’s food culture.

Emotion Cookies is presented as part of The Art of Small 2026 exhibition at Myymälä2. Follow @kitchen_testimonies, @myymälä2, @tampereinterculturalart and @catalysti_finland on Instagram for updates about the performance and the exhibition.

The Art of Small 2026 is a project part of Catalysti Association of Transcultural Artists ‘s KUVI-supported program and Kulttuuriosuuskunta TIcAS is supporting communications operations this year.

Categories

Performance, Gallery / museum, Food & drink, Nature & Environment