Five Invisible Haiku, 2015-2017

Five Invisible Haiku grew out of a collaboration between Navarro and Ian Pasarán Rodríguez, a former student of the Santa María la Ribera School for the Blind and Deaf. Together, they constructed a synesthetic experience for the neighbors. This collaborative process consisted of imagining the tastes of five poems (haiku) that Ian created based on five concepts proposed by the artist: light, distance, affection, time, and space. Ian is a professional flavor evaluator and he conferred a flavor on each haiku that he related to a memory from his past, memories that in turn, a group of flavorists translated into candy.

The candies guided Navarro and Ian in the production of five sculptural objects, each one related to a haiku-candy. The objects (products of that shared experience) were hidden inside five wooden boxes. The implementation of the piece began with the tasting experience of each haiku-candy while touching the sculpture corresponding to that poem. Five Invisible Haiku was experienced by 186 people, students of Ian’s former school, and neighbors.

—Violeta Celis

Curators: Osvaldo Sánchez and Violeta Celis
Final Project: A public sensory experience at the Santa María la Ribera School for the Blind and Deaf

Production coordinators: Sergio Olivares and Mariano Arribas

Activations: Social Service inSite/Casa Gallina: César Morales Martínez and Mayté Mata Ramírez. Social Service CIPC: Allan Yered Soberanes Sánchez, Dulce Janeth Marín Mejía, Rubí Alejandra Peralta and Jazmín Gutiérrez Juárez

inSite/Casa Gallina Volunteers: Jazzint Pantoja Gutiérrez

Blind and/or seeing-impaired student volunteers CIPC: Luz María Valero Ramírez, Carina Lázaro López and Guadalupe del Carmen Ortíz Sánchez

Flavor Production: Bell Flavors & Fragrances

Candy production: Sugarox

Interlocutors: Paola Santoscoy and Mariana David

We are grateful to support from: Dr. Fernando Rueda and the allergist Dr. David Mendoza; as well as the engineer Estela Medina, and Maricruz Cabrera Padilla and Rosa María Pérez Godínez from the International Committee for the Blind (I.A.P.)