Safiental Land Tasting
Alex Grunenfelder
Tenna Alp Sennerei (Tenna Dairy Farm), GPS: 46.751963, 9.330955
In this tasting session that restages the Milchkur (alpine raw-milk health retreat) common in Switzerland during the 18th, 19th, and early-20th centuries our bovine host invites us to taste the local topography. A pairing of herb and milk flavours reveals the astonishing alchemical transmutation that has been shaping the landscape of this valley for almost 8 centuries.
In a relationship of mutually-assured perpetuation the four-chambered beast and its two-legged partner diligently orchestrate a metabolic conversion of sunlight, water and carbon into long-chain fatty acids. Through flavour and aroma we are able to witness two states of this ecological process.
Produced in collaboration with Regentin (the original Schwyzer Braunvieh Kuh) and Walter von Ah (steward of the dairy).
Gustatory performance with valley, field, cow, and farmer
Alex Grunenfelder is a Vancouver-based designer and multidisciplinary artist. His work explores the perception of space, place and landscape and the air as speculative object.