Uncork : Augmenting the wine tasting experience

Uncork is a project developed by Kritika Dhanda (MDes ADPD ’16), Alkistis Mavroeidi (MDes Tech ’16) and Jake Rudin (MDes Tech ’16) as part of REAL Cities, a wider collaboration project between the GSD and the University of Bergamo that studies food systems in the Bergamo area. Its aim has been the strengthening of the local market, by more efficiently connecting consumers with local products, with an emphasis given on the wine market.

The research brought up the study of taste, the sense that is most profoundly affected by external parameters. It is understood now as a mix of smell, genetics, and environmental factors such as temperature, mood, and the specifics of any given experience. The Uncork application aims to exploit this glitch as it relates to a larger understanding of preferences, each person building a profile based on their own glitchy taste. As a next step, this project envisions the creation of technologically augmented wine tasting spaces of social gathering. In those experiential venues, sensory input is used to feed an interactive projection-based installation which maps the users’ movements. Using information like the type of wine and the words people use to describe it, it augments the experience acting as both an entertainment factor and an educational tool.