Tasting life and energy with the body: the biodynamic resonance of wine
Christelle Pineau & Jean Foyer
ABSTRACT
Based on two long term research with natural and biodynamic winegrowers in France, this text returns to the principles of biodynamic agriculture in its desire to potentiate the living character of the vine and the soil; living supposed to translate into energy or vibrations in the glass. Why is wine attracted to biodynamics? The hypothesis put forward, which would partly explain the apparently happy marriage between wine and biodynamics, is that the latter helps to give more life and energy to wine and that this energy would be perceived through new way of tasting. Our aim here is not so much to study what this extra life or energy might be as a scientific object as these notions are in any case impossible to stabilize from a scientific point of view. The reason for our use of these unstable categories is that they emerge repeatedly on the subject of biodynamic wines from the discourses of winemakers, enologists, sommeliers and tasters, whether beginners or advanced. These categories of energy or vibrations, still in gestation, refer to forms of wine tasting that go beyond organoleptic criteria alone to extend to the receptivity of the whole body involved in the act of drinking.
Tasting energy'
Can plants 'get' eurythmy?
Can Plants Perceive Human Gestures? Using AI to Track Eurythmic Human–Plant Interaction
This paper explores if plants are capable of responding to human movement by changes in their electrical signals. Toward that goal, we conducted a series of experiments, where humans over a period of 6 months were performing different types of eurythmic gestures in the proximity of garden plants, namely salad, basil, and tomatoes. To measure plant perception, we used the plant SpikerBox, which is a device that measures changes in the voltage differentials of plants between roots and leaves. Using machine learning, we found that the voltage differentials over time of the plant predict if (a) eurythmy has been performed, and (b) which kind of eurythmy gestures has been performed. We also find that the signals are different based on the species of the plant. In other words, the perception of a salad, tomato, or basil might differ just as perception of different species of animals differ. This opens new ways of studying plant ecosystems while also paving the way to use plants as biosensors for analyzing human movement.
This paper explores if plants are capable of responding to human movement by changes in their electrical signals. Toward that goal, we conducted a series of experiments, where humans over a period of 6 months were performing different types of eurythmic gestures in the proximity of garden plants, namely salad, basil, and tomatoes. To measure plant perception, we used the plant SpikerBox, which is a device that measures changes in the voltage differentials of plants between roots and leaves. Using machine learning, we found that the voltage differentials over time of the plant predict if (a) eurythmy has been performed, and (b) which kind of eurythmy gestures has been performed. We also find that the signals are different based on the species of the plant. In other words, the perception of a salad, tomato, or basil might differ just as perception of different species of animals differ. This opens new ways of studying plant ecosystems while also paving the way to use plants as biosensors for analyzing human movement.