PARIS, Oct 16 — A special Ladurée macaron customised to the tastes and memories of contemporary artist Marina Abramović is getting its Paris launch next week.

The macaron is the brainchild of Raphaël Castoriano, founder and creative director of Krëemart, which partners contemporary artists with pastry chefs to produce their own conception.

Abramović is the first subject of Pastry Portrait, a joint endeavour by Ladurée and Castoriano, who chose Abramović “because of her affinity for the intangible and the immaterial,” according to an announcement.

To create her macaron, Castoriano presented Abramović with a series of questions called the Papillae Questionnaire, used to determine what concepts should be translated to flavours.

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“When I said I wanted to have my own taste, they asked me so many questions... what I like, the colours, the smells, the landscapes in nature, the memories of childhood... all of this went into the Pastry Portrait of me,” said the artist.

So what does a Marina Abramović macaron taste like?

“My grandmother, early morning, making coffee,” said the artist of her impressions while biting into a macaron in a launch video, according to Artnet, which was at the London launch.

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“Then I remember the smells of fresh basil, thyme, cardamom seeds, and exotic smells from the trips I took later on and remember exploring volcanoes and waterfalls and remember this feeling in the early morning when I see the line of the sea just meet the ocean, and ocean meet the sky.”

The macarons are Prussian Blue — a shade that references the artist’s parents, who were war heroes in Yugoslavia —and leave a “guilty blue stain” on the tongue, writes Artnet.

They are stamped with Abramović s family crest, representing the balance between fragility and strength, and presented in a limited-edition box of three macarons, one of which is wrapped in gold leaf; the box’s pyramid shape is even part of the customisation, making reference to freemasonry, a symbol of “energy and power.”

The macarons were unveiled at Harrods in London this month; they’ll next be presented in Paris, where 250 boxes will be available at Ladurée Paris on rue de Castiglione and at the Grand Palais for the FIAC International Art Fair from October 16-22. They’ll also be available to order from the menu at Colette during the launch week.

Future launches are planned for Milan, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Tokyo. — AFP-Relaxnews