This is your brain on cognac

Hennessy teamed up with acclaimed media artist and director Refik Anadol for a project that captured the brain activity of the brand's master tasters as they imbibed and translated their emotions into an art installation and a packaging design.

Anadol traveled to Cognac, France, and outfitted the company's eighth-generation master blender Renaud Fillioux de Gironde and his colleagues in a specialised EEG (electroencephalogram) cap. This tracked their "emotions in real time, capturing their experience, sensations, and appreciations" as they evaluated a selection of eaux-de-vie destined to become Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège. 

Back in his California studio, Anadol and his team filtered, analysed and transformed the data to create 'Sense of Heritage', an immersive audio-visual installation—an 'infinity room' projecting images of the data. The installation started touring in May and is now at K11 Musea, a shopping destination in Hong Kong, through June 28.  

The Tasting Committee’s emotions were also transalted into colours, shapes, reliefs and textures that appear on packaging for the 2021 Hennessy V.S.O.P Privilège Limited Edition. 

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