Olfactory art is an art form that uses scents as a medium. Olfactory art includes perfume as well as other applications of scent.
The art form has been a recognized genre since at least 1980. [1] Marcel Duchamp was one of the first artists who pioneered with using scents in art. [2]
In 1938, the poet Benjamin Péret roasted coffee behind screens at the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme which was orchestrated by Marcel Duchamp, and was possibly one of the first true examples of olfactory art. (from the book "Salon to Biennial - Exhibitions that Made Art History", Volume 1: 1863-1959 Hardcover – July 2, 2008 by Bruce Altshuler)
A series of chess sets where the pieces could be distinguished only by scent were made by Takako Saito in 1965. [2] Spice Chess and Smell Chess relied on the use of spices or scented liquids in the pieces. [2] In Spice Chess, the black king was scented with asafetida, the black queen with cayenne, and the black bishops with cumin. [2] The white pieces included cinnamon pawns, nutmeg rooks, ginger knights and an anise white queen. [2]
Self-Portrait in Scent, Sketch no. 1 was a 1994 exhibit by Clara Ursitti at The Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Scotland. [3] It consisted of a small, specially constructed room outfitted with motion sensors and scent dispensers. [3] Art historian Caro Verbeek, [4] of the Vrije Universiteit and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, cites this work as a breakthrough in both artistic and technological terms. [5]
Green Aria: A Scent Opera was an exhibit by Christophe Laudamiel at the Guggenheim that incorporated both over two dozen fragrances pumped through special "scent microphones" to 148 seats, accompanied by music. [6] Some scents were intended to invoke natural fragrances, while others were described as "Industrial" or "Absolute Zero". [6]
Sillage is an ongoing olfactory public artwork by Brian Goeltzenleuchter in which the artist asks a city's residents to name smells associated with different regions of the city. He then translates the responses into bottled fragrances representing each region. The project culminates in an event at an art museum during which visitors are sprayed with the scent of their neighborhood and are encouraged to interact with others who smelled differently. The resulting scent portrait is intended to stimulate conversation and provide a representation of the museum's demographic. [7] In 2014, the Santa Monica Museum of Art (now Institute for Contemporary Art in Los Angeles) hosted the project. In 2016, the project was realized at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
LacrimAu was an exhibit by the Czech artist Federico Díaz at an exposition at Shanghai. An individual could enter a glass cube containing a 30 inch tall golden teardrop. After putting on a headband, the person's brainwaves would be read by sensors, which would translate them into a uniquely tailored scent. It was described as a "surprise hit". [8]
Various attempts have been made to enhance films with scents. A Swiss professor named Hans Laube demonstrated the concept at the 1939 New York World's Fair. [9] The AromaRama system released scents through the air conditioning system, and was first used for the travelogue Behind the Great Wall in December 1959. [10] [11] The 1960 film Scent of Mystery used the Smell-O-Vision system, located under the seats, to release aromas which were integral to the story. Polyester (1981) used "Odorama" scratch-and-sniff cards with 10 numbered spots for a similar effect. Scents were also used in the 2023 film Postcard from Earth . [12]
Grasse is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the commune had a population of 50,396.
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Perfumes can be defined as substances that emit and diffuse a pleasant and fragrant odor. They consist of manmade mixtures of aromatic chemicals and essential oils. The 1939 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Leopold Ružička stated in 1945 that "right from the earliest days of scientific chemistry up to the present time, perfumes have substantially contributed to the development of organic chemistry as regards methods, systematic classification, and theory."
Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a strong odor obtained from a gland of the musk deer. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name originates from the Late Greek μόσχος 'moskhos', from Persian mushk and Sanskrit मुष्क muṣka derived from Proto-Indo-European noun múh₂s meaning "mouse". The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. It is applied to various plants and animals of similar smell and has come to encompass a wide variety of aromatic substances with similar odors, despite their often differing chemical structures and molecular shapes.
Old Spice is an American brand of male grooming products encompassing aftershaves, deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, body washes, shaving cream, and soaps. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble.
Smell-O-Vision is a system that released odor during the projection of a film so that the viewer could "smell" what was happening in the movie. Created by Hans Laube, the technique made its only appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery, produced by Mike Todd Jr., son of film producer Mike Todd. The process injected 30 odors into a movie theater's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.
An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance or flavoring, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficiently volatile for transmission via the air to the olfactory system in the upper part of the nose. As examples, various fragrant fruits have diverse aroma compounds, particularly strawberries which are commercially cultivated to have appealing aromas, and contain several hundred aroma compounds.
Aromachology is the study of the influence of odors on human behavior and to examine the relationship between feelings and emotions. Those who practice aromachology are aromachologists. Aromachologists analyze emotions such as relaxation, exhilaration, sensuality, happiness and well-being brought about by odors stimulating the olfactory pathways in the brain and, in particular, the limbic system. Different wearers are thought to have unique physiological and psychological responses to scents, especially those not manufactured synthetically but based on real scents. The word "aromachology" is derived from "aroma" and "physio-psychology", the latter being the study of aroma. This term was coined in 1989 by what is now the Sense of Smell Institute (SSI), a division of The Fragrance Foundation. The SSI defines aromachology as "a concept based on systematic, scientific data collected under controlled conditions". The term is defined as the scientifically observable influence of smell on emotions and moods. Consumers use aromachology to alleviate time pressures, for relaxation or stimulation and as a component of other activities that generate a feeling of well-being.
A perfumist is an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a nose due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. The perfumer is effectively an artist who is trained in depth on the concepts of fragrance aesthetics and who is capable of conveying abstract concepts and moods with compositions. At the most rudimentary level, a perfumer must have a keen knowledge of a large variety of fragrance ingredients and their smells, and be able to distinguish each one alone or in combination with others. They must also know how each reveals itself over time. The job of the perfumer is very similar to that of flavourists, who compose smells and flavourants for commercial food products.
Roja Dove is a British perfumer whose fragrances are sold at department stores worldwide. Born and raised in Sussex, South East England, his career in perfumery began in 1981 when he joined the French perfume house Guerlain, working there for 20 years before leaving to set up his own companies RDPR and then Roja Parfums.
Mandy Aftel is an American perfumer. She is the owner and nose behind the natural perfume line Aftelier as well as the author of nine books, including four books on natural perfume and a cookbook on essential oils.
An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and many animals can perceive via their sense of smell. An odor is also called a "smell" or a "scent", which can refer to either an unpleasant or a pleasant odor.
Christophe Laudamiel is a French perfumer, chemist, writer and model. He is co-founder and Master Perfumer of DreamAir creative studios in New York City, where he currently resides. In 2019 he was named Chief Perfumer to BélAir Lab in Tokyo: a perfume composition and technology studio newly managed by Rohto Pharmaceuticals. He is a founder and president of the non-profit Academy of Perfumery and Aromatics.
Digital scent technology is the engineering discipline dealing with olfactory representation. It is a technology to sense, transmit and receive scent-enabled digital media. The sensing part of this technology works by using olfactometers and electronic noses.
A fragrance wheel also known as aroma wheel, fragrance circle, perfume wheel or smell wheel, is a circular diagram showing the inferred relationships among olfactory groups based upon similarities and differences in their odor. The groups bordering one another are implied to share common olfactory characteristics. Fragrance wheel is frequently used as a classification tool in oenology and perfumery.
The Art and Olfaction Awards are a non-profit award mechanism designed to celebrate excellence in international artisan, experimental and independent perfumery and olfactory art through a yearly blind-judged competition.
The Institute for Art and Olfaction is a non-profit organization devoted to advancing public, artistic and experimental engagement with scent. It was founded in 2012.
Peter de Cupere is an olfactory artist who lives and works in Antwerp. De Cupere creates work intended to explore experiences of smelling.
Smeller is an installation by the Berlin-based artist Wolfgang Georgsdorf, which as an instrument and medium enables the composing and precise broadcasting or performance of complex scent sequences. These can also be synchronized with simultaneously reproduced sounds, films, narrative texts, dance or theatre.
Clara Ursitti is a Canadian-Italian artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. She was born in North Bay, Ontario in 1968.
Olfactory heritage is an aspect of cultural heritage concerning smells that are meaningful to a community due to their connections with significant places, practices, objects or traditions, and can therefore be considered part of the cultural legacy for future generations.