Text by CLOT Magazine
They say smell is one of the most powerful evocative of the senses. Memories seem intricately bound to certain smalls and vice-versa. Frieze Academy wants to take us into a day of olfactory exploration with ‘Making Scents: Art and the Olfactory’, a symposium and workshop that will bring together extraordinary pioneers in the fields of art, scent and neuroscience this Saturday, 22 September.
The participants will discover the myriad and inspiring ways smell can be experienced, why collaborations between olfaction and art are in focus now, and what the future of scent may hold.
Speakers include leading global scent researcher and ‘nasalnaut’, Sissel Tolaas, whose experiments have led to ways we can ‘smell’ the news or make cheese from odour molecules, perfumer Geza Schoen whose Molecule 01 is a cultural phenomenon as much as a scent, Paul Schütze, whose practice bridges contemporary art, music and fragrance, including collaborations with James Turrell and Isaac Julien, and rhinologist and specialist in the neuroscience of smell, Simon Gane.
The day is hosted by Susan Irvine, Creative Project Leader for Olfactive Projects, in partnership with International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) at the Royal College of Art.
The day will cover subjects as diverse as scent mapping, scent engineering, the ways our brains respond to scent, as well as aesthetic and philosophical ways that this sense is used. Sample scent sensations, including a gift from Escentric Molecules. This day will appeal to artists and creatives looking to understand more about the lateral and radical applications of scent in contemporary art projects.
It will also appeal to those curious about the art’s historical relationship with scent and the traditions of aromatic practice in evoking other eras, as well as identifying contemporary artists who use scent in innovative and experimental ways. With speakers from the perfume, science and art industry, the day will offer new interpretations and hands-on experience for beauty industry professionals.
