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"As visitors strolled through a recent display of Madame de Pompadour's coffee grinder, an 1840s Sèvres porcelain coffee set, tea canisters, sugar bowls and other European decorative arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the scent of roasted coffee beans arose in one room. Bach's "Coffee" Cantata played in the background. Not far away, cocoa pods were not only on display but also meant to be touched. In the final gallery, a tasting station offered two kinds of liquid chocolate, one adapted from an Aztec recipe and the other from an 18th-century French formula. Museums usually aim to offer a feast for the eyes, but this Detroit museum had much more in mind for "Bitter|Sweet: Coffee, Tea & Chocolate," which just closed at the institute. Officials, who used art objects to illustrate how the introduction of those beverages to Europe in the 16th century from Africa, Asia and the Americas changed social and consumption patterns, wanted the exhibition to be a banquet for all five senses."

"WV is an ongoing investigation into the politics of human sensuality, by way of commentary, reviews, field recordings, and artwork. Most posts include both text and media. Our emphasis is sonic, but we're not deaf to pictures, tastes, or feelings. The site was created out of a belief that how we sense the world is a crucial political problem. Sense is at the heart of consumption - of media, food, art, material objects - as well as engagements between individuals. Influencing sensual preferences en masse is a key to political and economic power. Consider flavor, cadence, leather interiors. "

"Noise is not the most important problem in the world. Compared to the disasters of famine, war, and global climate change, the existence of "unwanted sound" hardly counts as a problem at all. It rarely emerges as a public issue in countries struggling with the worst forms of poverty and violence. So far as I am aware, there is no Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise in the cities and villages of Afghanistan and the Congo. "