Aristotle called on eating as the primal function of the soul. Whether in literal digestion of food or the more subtle consumption involved in sensual processing like seeing and hearing, in the act of consuming the Aristotelian soul was taking something foreign and transforming it into itself.
Instant noodles, for instance, seem to be so unlike us and yet our bodies can easily incorporate them – and through looking and listening we also take things inside us, assimilating them into our being with our subjective perceptual apprehension.
Sound artist Mamoru Okuno has been working with the idea of basic consumption for several years now. We spoke to him in April about the sonic values of soda water and plastic drinking straws, and last month he performed in Sydney and Melbourne at our 2010 Big in Japan events.
Using an audio loop to deftly build up the surprisingly diverse sounds involved in preparing instant noodles, he finished his live sets by inviting people from the audience to eat the fresh steamy bowels of ramen with him.
