check out my new paper on olfactory consciousness.

Gayil Nalls

Gayil Nalls, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary artist and theorist.

 

 

Olfaction - an exhibition of artworks

Diana Ali currated the show "Olfaction - an exhibition of artworks" from May 29th to June 7th 2009 in the Empty Shop Gallery in Durham (UK). 

 

 

 

Odor Limits

The Ester M. Klein Art Gallery at the University Center Science Center in Philadelphia (USA) in 2008 had Jim Drobnick (the editor of the Smell Culture Reader) and Jennifer Fisher of Toronto's DisplayCult curate the "Odor Limits" exhibit. The exhibit was produced in collaboration with the Monell Chemical Senses Center and featured pieces from Oswaldo Macia (UK), Jenny Marketou (Greece/USA), Chrysanne Stathacos (Canada/USA) and Clara Ursitti (UK). 

 

 

Firmenich Supported Olfactory Art Projects

Firmenich, a Geneva (Switzerland) based flavor and fragrance company sponsored some art projects that displayed perfumes in connection with installations in public spaces.

 

 

The naked woman rubbing her groin against a giant food coming out of the (sugar-covered) floor is a detail of this large installation. You can find a video of the installation on youtube. Read a review here.

 

 

 

 

/7S/ is an olfactory installation of the seven deadly sins.

the perfumers for /7S/ were: Annie Buzantian (Envy), Jacques Cavallier (Pride), Ilias Ermenidis (Gluttony), Harry Fremont (Avarice), Annick Menardo (Anger), Alberto Morillas (Lust), Thierry Wasser (Sloth)

 

 

If There Ever Was

 

The exhibition "If There Ever Was" from April 30 to June 6 2008 in the Reg Vardy Gallery in Sunderland (UK) was curated by the gallery's curator Robert Blackson.

The artists included Kóan Jeff Baysa, Mark Buxton, Bertrand Duchaufour, Christoph Hornetz, Christophe Laudamiel, Patricia Millns, Steven Pearce, David Pybus - Scents of Time, Geza Schön, Sissel Tolaas, and Maki Ueda. Each artist (re-) created an  extinct or impossible smell: the scent of extinct plants, the sun, the Hiroshima bomb, perfume samples recovered from the Titanic, Cleopatra's hair...

The exhibit allows to focus on the smells and the narratives. In otherwise empty rooms, there are small texts placed along the walls with motion-sensitive scent puffers below each. The show has been reviewed by the BBC and the New York Times.

 

Spring is on its way

The installation "Spring is on its way" by Jan Fabre (Belgium) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp (Belgium) in 2008 is an example of a naturally occuring and changing odor as part of a work of (conceptual) art. The installation consists of onions and potatoes hung from the ceiling in condoms. And the vegetables are spoiling. Here it is reviewed on a condom website.

 

 

Nadia Wagner

Nadia Wagner's (Australia) "Recent addition to the permanent collection" from Jul 18 to August 8 2009 in the Cabinet event space in Brooklyn (US) is an invisible modification of the event space by the use of oak moss scent. No picture of the work can be provided due to its invisibility.