Tapping Time: Tea as an Instrument of Perception | COMFORTERS · Lena C. · MADZINE × DEERLAND TEA's Experimental Sound

Chapter Three.  To reimagine what is continually unfolding

第三章   無常：嘗試重塑那屢屢幻變的

For centuries, tea evaluation has relied on the human senses:

seeing,

smelling,

touching,

and tasting.

Yet tea evaluation is also the practice of observing time.

The releasing of aroma, the gradual opening of leaves, the changing color of the liquor, the shifting texture on the palate, each presents a process of continuous transformation.

The collaboration between MADZINE and DEERLAND TEA asks a new question: Can the temporal life of tea be perceived by machines?

During the performance, the live image of tea serving becomes data.

Through MADZINE's custom software, the movements of pouring tea, the gestures of evaluating and serving, and the evolving forms of tea leaves and tea liquor are translated into audiovisual signals.

The captured image generates sound.

The sound reshapes the image.

Tea becomes code.

What begins as a traditional act of hospitality is transformed into an experimental feedback system between human gesture, machine vision, sound synthesis, and generative imagery.

The performance does not merely document tea; it traces the unfolding of time within tea itself.

The fleeting sensory changes can normally perceived only by the trained eye and palate of the tea evaluator, now they are translated into sound and image, allowing audiences to witness as it happens.

Tea evaluation becomes information.

Time becomes visible.

Tea becomes an interface between organic and digital perception.

幾個世紀以來，茶評鑑始終仰賴人類的感官：

視覺；

嗅覺；

觸覺；

以及味覺。

然而，茶評鑑同時也是一種觀察時間的實踐。香氣的釋放、茶葉的舒展、茶湯濃度與色澤的變化、口感的轉折，每一個環節都呈現出持續演變的過程。

MADZINE 與 DEERLAND TEA 的合作，提出了一個全新的問題：機器能否感知茶湯的生命週期？

表演過程中，評鑑茶葉的手勢被即時捕捉為影像，轉化為數據。透過 MADZINE 的客製化軟體，倒茶的動作、品飲與辨茶、以致為奉茶而做的調整，那些茶葉與茶湯形態的細微變化，皆可能被轉譯為視聽訊號。

捕捉到的影像生成聲音；

聲音重塑影像；

茶，化為代碼。

原先的固定儀式，演變為人類姿態、機器視覺、聲音合成與生成影像之間的一場實驗性回饋。

這場表演的目的不僅是記錄茶，更是追溯茶本身的時間流逝。那些轉瞬即逝、通常只有訓練有素的評茶師才能察覺的感官變化，如今被公開為聲音與影像，讓觀眾得以同時見證。

鑑茶的體驗，化為訊息；

時間，變得可見；

茶，成為有機感知與數位感知之間的介面。

July 03 · Guo Xing Fashi's Tea Chan Ceremony

From 1500 to 1700

During this gathering, Venerable Guo Xing from Dharma Drum Mountain will introduce the philosophy and practice of Tea Chan 茶禪, offering insights into the relationship between tea, mindfulness, and awakening. Participants will be invited to share in the ritual and experience its contemplative spirit together.

Limited seating available,

First come, first served.