21.5.13

Learning programming in Arduino

For controlling the diffuser fan I am starting learning Arduino.

I've learned pascal and C at school so I understand the language a bit. I never expected to use this knowledge again. Life is full of surprise!

Designing the diffuser

So now I'm studying how to control the diffuser fan... with Arduino, an open sauce electronic board. It's made in Italy. The package is so cute that it motivates me :-)



And these are samples of the diffuser exit. Selecting the material that's less visible in dark and that let go aroma throughly.

16.5.13

Making super analogue aroma diffuser


























Perfuming the space. It's an art itself.

I've heard that in France there's such man who can do this.  Jose Martin.  He's the specialist in perfuming at theater and cinema.

Normally, perfuming the space is done like this: you perfume the scent [A], then clean it, and then perfume the scent [B].  You can do this easily with mechanic machines.

In this pavilion I'm working on, I would have to place [A] [B] and [C] at the same time.  And I want to make gradations between them.

It's because the space is almost dark, and made in such way that the audience loose the sense of up and down, left and right.  I would like people to navigate themselves by sensing smells.  Scent is the only way to navigate them in this space.

It's quite challenging, I know.  So I make experimentations and observations.  I am designing the whole airflow and aroma diffusing principles myself.

Anyone knows a specialist of airflow in Tokyo?

How to perfume postcards?

We're making invitation postcards of the new pavilion "Invisible White" opening in July.

I would like to perfume the card.  Ideally with scratch & sniff, but it's very, very expensive.

So I thought of various methods of perfuming the postcards.

Normally card itself has a strong odour of paper and paint.  To fight against it is quite some work!!!  But it's not impossible.







3 principle smells: the order for smelling


Placing 3 different smells in the space.

It sounds so simple, but in reality it's always complicated.  Experimentation over experimentation, to identify the factors and where to focus. 



Question: Three different smells A, B, and C, and the total smell Z.  Which order should you smell?
Choose from:
(1) Z > A > B > C
(2) A > B >  C > Z



You really have to place them in the space in order to say something, because the shape and the airflow of the space play role as important factors. But at least I can test it on the table.  With my previous work "OLFACTOSCAPE - deconstructing Chanel No. 5 -"
  1. Chanel No. 5 composition
  2. Bergamot
  3. Rose
  4. Vetiver
  5. Vanillin
  6. Musk
  7. Aldehyde
  8. Ylang-ylang

Then the opposite order:

  1. Ylang-ylang
  2. Aldehyde
  3. Musk
  4. Vanilin
  5. Vetiver
  6. Rose 
  7. Bergamot
  8. Chanel No. 5 composition


The latter was more difficult to smell the wholeness of Chanel No. 5.  Smelled a lot of Aldehyde, like an outdated perfume.

Why ?  In the first one, I have probablly learned the nose the whole spctrum of smells and this made it easier to identify the each smell too.  In the latter one, the nose got blocked and masked while smelling the each one.  Heavier smells like musk and aldehyde could do that.

Thus, the right answer is:

(1)  Z > A> B > C

















gallery for meditation - Kuh Ren Boh

Here is an introduction to the works by the architect Makoto Yokomizo, whom I collaborate with on an pavillion opening soon.

Kuh-ren-boh  http://www.kurenboh.com/



It's a gallery for meditation.  Its owner is the buddhist temple in Asakusa Tokyo.

Here you enter.


You go through "nijiriguchi", the entrance inspired by tea ceremony architecture, and then you take off shoes.  All the process is there for you to prepare your mind.

Now you are in the subtle space of light and darkness.



Here you don't have the sense of distance.  The sense of up and down, left and right.  You are aware of your heartbeat of yourself, and the sound you make by walking.  You explore the space with a tiny bit of light and the sense of touch.

 

Normally we use the sense of sight the most.  In this space, the other way round.

 

Then you exit to the real world.

It's a gallery space for meditation and teaching.  The space itself teaches you the way how the senses are.

We're adding the perspective of smell in our new collaboration we're making now.