Artist Lisa Kirk has launched Revolution, a fragrance created with perfumer Patricia Choux in 2008 for the conceptual art piece Revolution Pipe Bomb:
Through research gathered from interviews with anonymous journalists, activists, and political radicals, Kirk developed the Revolution fragrance based on their memories of the smell of revolution. The final solution contains the odor of smoke, gasoline, tear gas, burnt rubber, and decaying flesh.
This year, with the help of Ulrich Lang, Kirk has created a unisex commercial version of the fragrance, which is now sold at the No. 8a store at the Ace Hotel in New York City, 12 ml for $50. Their description:
Revolution is more of an art piece than a perfume. It contains, among other scents, the smell of smoke, tear gas, and gasoline, and acts as an olfactory critique on contemporary luxury branding and political im/possibilities. Surprisingly, it smells really good.
(via press release; additional information via lisakirkprojects, second quote via blog.acehotel)
See also: Revolution! storefront installation at 1133 Broadway, curated by Ulrich Lang and running through 6/1.
Um. I just want to say that the notes of this fragrance, listed after the phrase “the final solution,” is at best undoubtedly THE most off-putting copy I have ever read, and at worst profoundly disturbing. Surely I’m not alone in feeling that way….
Well, it’s not really “ad copy” — this is a conceptual art piece, so they’re not meaning to get it into Macy’s if you know what I mean! I’d love to smell it.
Yes, ‘the final solution’ is a phrase you think they might have understood and avoided, especially in close conjunction with ‘gas’ and ‘decaying flesh’. You have to hope it wasn’t deliberate.
My stomach kinda did a dive when I read “final solution” and my knee jerk reaction was “offence”. But then I do enjoy the humor of Mel Brooks, Steven Lynch (“I Think You’re a Nazi”) and Ricky Gervais (“Well done, Winslet. I told ya, ‘Do a holocaust movie, the awards come.” – to Kate Winslet after winning an Oscar for “The Reader”). So, trying not to be hypocritical here. And I’m a big fan of CdG “Tar”, so I think I’ might like to track this one down.
I assumed it was deliberate, and that it was supposed to be offensive in that way — again, this is a conceptual art piece and is presumably calculated to stir up emotions — and it’s working!.
Funny how two words that can be so innocent apart can become diabolical together. I was actually trying to think of some word combos the other day that trigger negative reactions, or at least a very specific image. I think it started because I was explaining the phrase “jump the shark” to my mother.
Then it just adds another layer of provocation to call it “Revolution”.
Tear gas…well that’s certainly different.. I can’t believe CdG hasn’t come up with that one yet!!..
I would love to smell it….I wonder if it really ” Surprisingly, [] smells really good”..
Never thought about it, but have no idea whatsoever what tear gas smells like. Smoke & gasoline -> you could do a cool (albeit possibly without any commercial possibilities) fragrance with that. And it’s astonishing how many people answer “gasoline” when asked what their favorite smells are.
I’ve smelled tear gas twice in my life: in Lima, Peru when the government devalued the currency in ’76, and here in Vancouver during the Stanley Cup Riot in 1994. Good times.
Tear gas smells quite nice, actually. Kind of like the smell of the air after fireworks: sharp, smoky and vaguely medicinal. Hurts like hell, though. Presumably they’ve taken out whatever makes it chokingly, searingly painful to breathe.
And I think the executive decision to remove the smell of decaying flesh was most sensible.
Thanks, that’s interesting to hear what it smells like.
It has that very diffusive, airy quality, obviously, somewhat like ozone and does indeed smell sharp and somewhat peppery to me. A firework is a very good comparison. At least, unlike sour gas, you smell it before you get the effect – because there’s not a lot of chance for smelling after that….
I wonder if it can be bought anywhere other than the Ace Hotel? I can’t seem to find any info on it…
I don’t think so, and there is an online store for No. 8a, but they don’t seem to have it listed.
I thought the Prix Eau Faux was over!
It never ends
O.M.G. I don’t have any problems with the idea of perfume as an art form…I do, however, have problems with pretentious, egotisitic, pseudo-political efforts masquerading as art. I can also pretty much guarantee that anyone who has actually experienced any of these scents would Not Be Amused.
Interesting. Would not say this is an example of perfume as art form, but of art form as perfume…
Well, I’m sure that their intent is to provoke, be controversial and perhaps offend. Well, they were successful at that IMHO. I’m very offended by the concept. And the ‘pipe bomb’ bottle design. Ugh. There is enough senseless violence, terrorism, cruelty and brutality in the world and I don’t need or want my perfume to reflect that. Too hip for me.
Amen to that.
Hear, hear. *shudder*
Hear, hear. *shudder*
Oy, I don’t know how that not-very-illuminating comment got posted twice; I must have double-clicked accidentally. Apologies.
I guess I may now be an old fuddy-duddy, but I find this incredibly provincial, unsophisticated, offensive and tiresome.
Looks like the majority are with you! I almost always love conceptual stuff like this — and any “olfactory critique on contemporary luxury branding” is automatically of interest to me.
And I treasure NST and you Robin for bringing these things to my attention, I hope you know that!
Oh hey, don’t worry — I am not offended that everybody is offended, LOL…
A good friend lives in the same building that houses the Ace Hotel (Broadway and 29th Street); the building is roughly half residential and the hotel takes up the rest of the space. The scent sounds odd but I’ll have to remember to give it a whiff when I visit next week. I’ll report back!
Oh good, please do!
It’s a free country, and I’d defend their right to say and print whatever they want, but there are far too many people and nations in the world today who believe that the “solution” was either not final enough, or else never happened in the first place for me to find this even remotely artsy. Revulsion would have been a more appropriate name.
I don’t believe true art can ever be something that is intentionally offensive. They need to invent a new word for things that are meant to make statements.
“Agitprop”?
Is this for real? I can’t believe it.
*reads description of perfume and shudders in revulsion*
Transforming people’s suffering into art that provokes thought and compassion is one thing. Coldly turning people’s suffering into a cynical commodity is another.
At first I was interested. My mind being where it is most of the time, I saw the title and the picture, and without reading the copy thought that the perfume had been inspired …by a vibrator. Then I read the copy. I wish I could say I was horrified, but its just pretentious in a cliched, art school dropout sort of way. Meh.
Smelled something resembling tear gas in the Army when we went through gas mask training. Can’t quite imagine it as a note in perfume. Although there were plenty of other smells that might work . Brass shell casings and gunpowder, with a little warm grass and clay mixed in?
i actually smelled this back in 2007 when lisa kirk had an installation at the p.s.1 museum in queens. it stands out in my mind as one of the most memorable art pieces i have ever experienced, not only because it is unusual to come across scent-based art, but also because the smell itself was absolutely captivating. it was simultaneously enjoyable and unnerving. while in the museum, i could definitely pick out the smoke and the burning rubber even without reading the artist statement, but there was also something sickly sweet that stuck in my nostrils and made me inexplicably uneasy, perhaps the flesh note? there was also an accompanying sculptural installation that could be viewed through a plexiglass window in the wall. on the other side of the window was a room that was completely upside down, all of the mismatched wooden chairs and table were stuck to the ceiling and the crumbling, water-stained ceiling tiles were on the floor. there were newspaper clippings tacked to the walls and and a dirty, threadbare carpet on the ceiling. apparently this was supposed to represent the underground meeting places where revolutions are planned, but at the time i remember thinking that the scent in the museum smelled exactly the way that i envisioned the upside down room smelling in my mind, a bit like the slightly moldy, musty basement of an old house, familiar and almost comforting, but just askew enough to make you feel a little nauseous.
It’s always interesting to see that these provocations land so well. I mean don’t take this too serious, every one of us could come up with something provocative. And thinking about that, this is rather a tame and save concept.
By the way the bottle looks a little like Thierry Muglers new one: Womaninity and the fragance is so CdG, but sounds interesting (except the decaying flesh…)
I’m actually a little confused that so many people are offended by this; violence, itself is offensive, but conceptually, this fragrance is meant to be jarring, disconcerting–it’s meant to make people uncomfortable. Attempting to recreate the olfactive experience of political and social uprising, for privileged and isolated populations to breathe in, seems like a pretty noble experiment. I don’t know anything about the artist’s past work or if this references a particular piece considered offensive on its own terms, but overall, this idea is fascinating.
Okay, perhaps people don’t understand art… I completely agree with Robin that this is ART in the form of perfume. Perhaps this misconception has occurred as a result of it appearing on a perfume blog rather than an art blog, but it deserves its place amongst both worlds. Perfumery after all is art. The creators of this piece have not done so for sale in a department store or for you to wear. It is for purchase as art, it makes a statement. About the very things which are upsetting so many of you and making you feel ill. The artists behind this have that intention. That is the entire purpose of art. And quite clearly they feel the exact same way as you do which is why they saw fit to make such a powerful piece. To mesh it with perfume and smells that encapsulate the core of their message is just bringing art into another dimension and adding new life. A greater experience. If you experience a form of art and don’t feel ANYTHING, then it is bad art! This is incredible!
I thought I updated my comment ages ago, but now I see that I have not. My DH tracked it down for my birthday, and was disappointed that it did *not* come in the sexy bottle pictured above
Bulgari Black gets busy with L’Artisan Al Oudh, and this is the result.
The first 10 minutes on skin are a little over the top, but when it settles in, it’s a sensual flesh scent; to me it’s more evocative of amorous activities than otherwise. Not for lovers of clean fragrances!
How sweet of your DH, and what a shame — is it in a plain glass bottle or something?
But that sounds nice to me. Are you enjoying it?