Artist Anicka Yi will launch Biography, a trio of fragrances, in November. Shigenobu Twilight, Radical Hopelessness and Beyond Skin were inspired by radical female figures and developed in collaboration with perfumer Barnabé Fillion…
Somewhere between fresh flower petals and putrid, overripe vegetation
Visitors move through Fructaplex©, a fruity, plasticky smell reminiscent of artificial car air-fresheners, to Sylvoxime©, which has a comforting sylvan note of a walk through the forest, before hitting the intense and complex smell called Hyperflor©, which Raspet describes as somewhere between fresh flower petals and putrid, overripe vegetation.
— Conceptual artist Sean Raspet of Detroit has an exhibit at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong; read more at Conceptual art goes molecular with works you can smell but can’t see, and one that ‘sees’ you at South China Morning Post.
Every inhalation a new surprise
According to other artists in the smell art community, the Smeller does what no one else in the intervening time period has ever managed to do: it pumps a series of defined, distinct smells into the room, one after the next. The scents dissipate just as the next one arrives: horse, then cinnamon, and then something that reminded me of an underground car park. Different types of berry, in vibrato, one after the other. No sound, no visuals, just a scent, and then another, every inhalation a new surprise.
— Artist Wolfgang Georgsdorf's Smeller 2.0, at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius Bau museum last summer. Read more at Welcome to the Cinema of Smells, where movies are a different kind of cheesy at The Outline. (Further reading: A Symphony of Smells: An Interview with Wolfgang Georgsdorf at BerlinArtLink.)
Human perfume project
Transdisciplinary designer Ani Liu bottles her husband. You can read more about Ani Liu, and her experiences at the MIT Media Lab, here.
These sculptures hide secrets
Sissel Tolaas’s work is more subtle but it’s one of the most innovative – and surprising – pieces in the whole show. It’s a series of small, white, abstract sculptures equally spaced across four walls. These sculptures hide secrets. Each is imbued with scent, which triggers a memory or a feeling or, sometimes, an acute physical reaction.
— Scent artist Sissel Tolaas collected smells from Melbourne, and is now exhibiting them at the NGV Triennial, which runs until April 15 at the National Gallery of Victoria. Read more at Smelling Art with Sissel Tolaas at Broadsheet Melbourne, or find out more about the Triennial here.