The Lickestra
The Lickestra
An edible musical interface performed by licking ice cream
The Lickestra is a collaborative interactive installation created in collaboration with experience designer Emilie Baltz, with musical composition by Arone Dyer. The project transforms a sculptural array of ice cream cones into a musical instrument that can only be played by licking.
Participants place cups of ice cream into a set of plastic cones mounted in a large sculpture. When they lick the ice cream, their bodies complete an electrical circuit that triggers musical samples. From a distance, the scene appears to be a group of people licking ice cream cones—creating a playful illusion that reveals the instrument through participation.
The project explores how taste, touch, and bodily interaction can become inputs for digital systems, blurring the boundaries between food, technology, and performance.
Designing an Edible Interface
The Lickestra was designed to challenge conventional ideas about musical instruments and user interfaces.
Instead of buttons or screens, the interface relies on the human tongue as a conductor. When participants lick the ice cream, they activate sensors embedded in the sculptural cone structure, triggering sound.
Different cones activate different musical samples, allowing participants to collectively create rhythms and melodies through their interactions.
This approach transforms eating into a performative act and invites people to explore how sensory experiences like taste and texture can become part of interactive design.
Playful Social Interaction
The installation is designed to be played by multiple participants at once. As people gather around the cones, they begin experimenting—licking, laughing, and improvising together.
The Lickestra often attracts a crowd, turning the act of eating ice cream into a spontaneous performance. By combining food, sound, and technology, the project highlights how shared sensory experiences can create playful forms of collaboration and social connection.
Lickestra at Specials at C Gallery, Interview for “This is Mold”
Press
The Lickestra received international media attention for its unusual approach to interaction design.
Wired — “By Licking These Ice Cream Cones, You Can Make Music”
Gizmodo — “Licking Ice Cream to Make It Sing With NY’s Weirdest Orchestra”
This Is MOLD — “Lickestra An Interactive Ice Cream Orchestra from Emilie Baltz and Carla Diana”
Edible Geography — “Ice Cream Orchestra”
LUXUO — Lickestra: Performance Art involving making music from ice cream licking
Discovery Channel Canada — Daily Planet, “Future Tech with Lucas Cochran” (April 15, 2014)