"Sweet As" Madeleine Child's installation featuring sweet ceramic treats opens today at 1.30pm. There is always an interesting tension in presenting shows that display some works that invite the viewer to touch and some that don't. People are generally aware that artworks shouldn't be touched and that are galleries are somewhat sacred or quiet spaces for contemplation - one often hears parents telling children to be quiet. As the role and perception of galleries shifts from rooms of landscape paintings that one walks around to spaces where interaction and discussion is encouraged, challenges arise. For example we hung 300 pieces of ceramic candy corn on a pink wall (Resenes' Cupid), which although irresistible in terms of the desire to want to see what it's made of - we have to instruct visitors not to touch due to the fragility of the pieces. There are two shopping trolleys - one bright pink and the other bright orange which we encourage viewers to push around the bubble wrap covered floor. We will take notice of how many visitors do this - as although signage saying "Push me", works to indulge this sense of fun and engagement - perhaps for younger visitors the "touch", "don't touch" concept will be more confusing. We also have to contend with some of the fragile ceramic popcorn and cheezels being displayed on the floor in the centre of the gallery. After discussing this with the artist we felt that although a plinth would discourage touching - it become to much of a feature within the immersive environment the artist has created. Creating a smell in keeping with the sweet candy corn has also been a challenge - we combed the city (Christchurch) in search of an appropriate strawberry fragrance which would also last for the duration of the show - unfortunately this proved more difficult than initially thought - many of the strawberry fragrances were very acidic smelling so in the end we purchased a variety of vanilla/chocolate diffusers and funnily enough many people have indicated that they recognise the smell as strawberry - this may be due to the influence of the pink wall perhaps more than what the sweet smell actually is. The eyes seem to have a huge influence on the way we interpret smell and taste. This is evident in hearing reports from those who have eaten in restaurants like Dans le Noir in London where patrons eat in total darkness . Even chefs who have had this experience have found it difficult to identify what they are eating - that's how much we rely on our vision - we are not used to relying on smell, touch and taste alone!