17.12.20 Smell
Until now I have relied mostly on the senses of sight and touch in my work. Smell has been a unexpected bonus of using imitation leather from Scrapstore for my Nobodies series in 2014 -15 and second hand clothing for Don't wash your dirty laundry in public in 2016 and The presence of absence at B-Wing exhibition, Shepton Mallet prison in 2019.
'...smells mark territory, play an important role in attraction and can have therapeutic functions. We understand, too, that they trigger emotions and evoke memories.' ... 'modernity denied the very idea that there could be an aesthetics of smell, and that postmodernity has redeemed it.' (Hitchings, 2018)
There are some notable uses of smell in art:
'Duchamp was a pioneer, apparently using the aroma of coffee in his exhibit at 1938’s Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme. His example has been seized on by artists such as Takako Saito, a member of Fluxus whose special chess sets required players to use their sense of smell rather than their sense of sight, and Ed Ruscha, whose Chocolate Room, the walls of which were covered with chocolate spread, debuted at the 1970 Venice Biennale, where it attracted an army of local ants.
A more recent instance is architect Kengo Kuma’s contribution to 2014’s Sensing Spaces at the Royal Academy, which invited visitors into a bamboo structure perfumed with a kind of cypress wood used in the construction of Japanese teahouses. In similar vein, Morgan Wong’s That’s How I Used to Know I Have in Fact Crossed This River appeals to the nose to suggest the atmosphere of travelling from Hong Kong to mainland China. Michael Pinsky’s Pollution Pods recreate with acrid vividness the toxic atmospheres of five modern cities, and at each performance of Brian Goeltzenleuchter’s Olfactory Memoirs, when writers recall moments from their childhood the smells they mention are immediately delivered to the audience.
The leader in the field is probably Sissel Tolaas. Born in Norway and now based in Berlin, she has created a paint that contains “micro-encapsulated” aromas, which are activated by touch. Her installations have addressed themes such as fear and decay; she has also made a Limburger cheese using bacteria sourced from David Beckham’s football boots, which was served to VIPs at the London Olympics.
Tolaas’s work is often interested in morbidity, as well as in the “smell identity” of particular cities.' (Hitchings, 2018)
Ernesto Neto famously uses smell in his soft architectural installations.
Christian Boltanski had hoped that the piles of unwashed, second hand clothing that he used for his large scale installation, Personnes, 2010, would smell but apparently where it was installed it was too cold.
There are also more examples of artists who use smell in their work here.
How could I use smell in my work? It's an interesting area to consider
Cumming, L (2010) Christian Boltanski: Personnes, review Available at: w.ww.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jan/17/christian-boltanski-personnnes-paris-review (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
Feminist Confessional (2015) I wanted to touch you with the smell Available at: https://perfumepolytechnic.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/i-wanted-to-touch-you-with-the-smell-ernesto-netos-immersive-cross-sensory-installations/ (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
Hitchings, H. (2018) What does art smell like? Available at: https://elephant.art/what-does-art-smell-henry-hitchings/elephant.art/what-does-art-smell-henry-hitchings/ (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
Pollack, B. (2011) Scents and sensibility Available at: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/scents-sensibility-381/ (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
'...smells mark territory, play an important role in attraction and can have therapeutic functions. We understand, too, that they trigger emotions and evoke memories.' ... 'modernity denied the very idea that there could be an aesthetics of smell, and that postmodernity has redeemed it.' (Hitchings, 2018)
There are some notable uses of smell in art:
'Duchamp was a pioneer, apparently using the aroma of coffee in his exhibit at 1938’s Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme. His example has been seized on by artists such as Takako Saito, a member of Fluxus whose special chess sets required players to use their sense of smell rather than their sense of sight, and Ed Ruscha, whose Chocolate Room, the walls of which were covered with chocolate spread, debuted at the 1970 Venice Biennale, where it attracted an army of local ants.
A more recent instance is architect Kengo Kuma’s contribution to 2014’s Sensing Spaces at the Royal Academy, which invited visitors into a bamboo structure perfumed with a kind of cypress wood used in the construction of Japanese teahouses. In similar vein, Morgan Wong’s That’s How I Used to Know I Have in Fact Crossed This River appeals to the nose to suggest the atmosphere of travelling from Hong Kong to mainland China. Michael Pinsky’s Pollution Pods recreate with acrid vividness the toxic atmospheres of five modern cities, and at each performance of Brian Goeltzenleuchter’s Olfactory Memoirs, when writers recall moments from their childhood the smells they mention are immediately delivered to the audience.
The leader in the field is probably Sissel Tolaas. Born in Norway and now based in Berlin, she has created a paint that contains “micro-encapsulated” aromas, which are activated by touch. Her installations have addressed themes such as fear and decay; she has also made a Limburger cheese using bacteria sourced from David Beckham’s football boots, which was served to VIPs at the London Olympics.
Tolaas’s work is often interested in morbidity, as well as in the “smell identity” of particular cities.' (Hitchings, 2018)
Ernesto Neto famously uses smell in his soft architectural installations.
Christian Boltanski had hoped that the piles of unwashed, second hand clothing that he used for his large scale installation, Personnes, 2010, would smell but apparently where it was installed it was too cold.
There are also more examples of artists who use smell in their work here.
How could I use smell in my work? It's an interesting area to consider
Cumming, L (2010) Christian Boltanski: Personnes, review Available at: w.ww.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/jan/17/christian-boltanski-personnnes-paris-review (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
Feminist Confessional (2015) I wanted to touch you with the smell Available at: https://perfumepolytechnic.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/i-wanted-to-touch-you-with-the-smell-ernesto-netos-immersive-cross-sensory-installations/ (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
Hitchings, H. (2018) What does art smell like? Available at: https://elephant.art/what-does-art-smell-henry-hitchings/elephant.art/what-does-art-smell-henry-hitchings/ (Accessed: 17 December 2020)
Pollack, B. (2011) Scents and sensibility Available at: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/scents-sensibility-381/ (Accessed: 17 December 2020)