12-03-2012
13-03-2012
11.4.12
OLFACTOSCAPE - photos
date: March 15th, 2012
event name: Smell This!
venue: V2_ Institute for Unstable Media
website:
about Smell_This!
about OLFACTOSCAPE
Caro Verbeek wrote about OLFACTOSCAPE.
article on Trouw, 10 March 2012
a review about OLFACTOSCAPE by Caro Verbeek
Cited from olfactoryart.net
http://www.olfactoryart.net/index.php/olfactory-news/14-olfactory-news/109
Eyes closed, hands on the circularly arranged cloth hanging from the ceiling, concentrated on the olfactory clues sprayed on the textile in front of me, I slowly make my way through Maki Ueda’s ‘Olfactoscape’. ‘Chanel no. 5 deconstructed’ it said in the announcement. Suddenly an obtrusive smells hits me like a brick wall. I knew this was coming, but still it’s incredibly overwhelming; pure animalistic and deeply penetrating musk! Without hesitating I take one step back. It’s still there. Recovering from the first shock I am turning slightly to the left as it disappears. Nothing now. I move closer to the smooth flexible wall counter-clockwise. This brings me back to the more pleasant less pungent aroma I perceived one minute earlier. This one is less volatile, has less volume so to speak. By shifting my weight from one foot to another I try to find the exact border between the two. And there it is! Sharp like a knife. Apparently movement facilitates a spatial perception of odour to such a level that it becomes a floating and clearly defined shape.
‘Because we have two nostrils and because we can move, we are able to perceive smells in stereo and navigate through a space by inhaling’, Maki Ueda tells the audience before inviting them to visit ‘Olfactoscape’ during the V2 ‘Smell this’ event on the 15th of March. ‘Remember to keep your eyes closed and to move slowly’, she adds with a serious expression on her face. ‘Olfacto’ referring to the sense of smell and ‘scape’ to a landscape, this circular installation containing the most important components of the famous Chanel no. 5, enables visitors to experience space by one of our most underrated senses. ‘Why did you choose this type of construction’ one curious bystander remarks. Ueda: ‘When you stand in the middle, you perceive the harmony, that’s why this installation is organized as a circle, although a labybrinth or a rectangular narrow space would have been interesting as well’.
‘This was the first modern perfume’, she continues. ‘All perfumers educated now have to be able to reproduce it’. Chanel no. 5 is a so-called signature perfume. Its origins are surrounded by myths. One of the stories is that of a perfume mixer that somehow overdosed on aldehydes and ‘boom’: the birth of the first modern perfume, which - supposedly by mistake - has an extremely characteristic aroma. When isolated, these aldehydes are somewhat unpleasant and ‘fatty’ as Maki describes them.
Most of us are familiar with the fact that odours that are perceived as foul or hideous when secluded, turn out to pleasant and (wildly) attractive when covered with floral or fruity top notes. Musk and indole (to be found in human feces and associated with prostitutes at that time) are suddenly acceptable by upper class women when combined with vanilla or citrus. Chanel no. 5 is one of these layered almost schizophrenic perfumes. By deconstructing and grouping the most important ingredients, the artist presents to us a three-dimensional version of the most famous perfumes of all times. She allows us to smell the less agreeable odorants separately, exposing the bare naked femme fatale (base notes) underneath the civilized dressed up lady at the surface (top and middle notes). This makes it a bit like watching a scary movie. You know something is about to happen, but you can’t predict when. But your body knows before your mind.
Beside this more conceptual layer, there is a poetic and purely sensual aspect to the work which one can exclusively become aware of while experiencing this aromatic landscape. It forces you to combine several of your senses as if they were one: touch, smell and proprioception or kinaesthesia. A kinaesthetic experience is usually conceived by sight and even sound in combination with movement. This less well known sense tells us what our position is in a defined space. The unique circumstances provided by Olfactoscape, hand us the possibility to navigate through space with our hands, nose and body. The knowledge of the presence of certain ingredients, such as indole, aldehydes and musk, offers an extra dimension. Once you perceive them, being aware of the fact that your body almost described 360 degrees by this point, they function as a grand finale.
After exchanging the darkness and consolation of the installation for ‘neutral’ air and sharp electric light I am in a complete different state of mind. The mindful and multi-sensorial journey through Chanel no. 5 definitely left its mark on me.
http://www.olfactoryart.net/index.php/olfactory-news/14-olfactory-news/109
A multi-sensorial perception of space - ‘Olfactoscape’ by Maki Ueda
‘Because we have two nostrils and because we can move, we are able to perceive smells in stereo and navigate through a space by inhaling’
Eyes closed, hands on the circularly arranged cloth hanging from the ceiling, concentrated on the olfactory clues sprayed on the textile in front of me, I slowly make my way through Maki Ueda’s ‘Olfactoscape’. ‘Chanel no. 5 deconstructed’ it said in the announcement. Suddenly an obtrusive smells hits me like a brick wall. I knew this was coming, but still it’s incredibly overwhelming; pure animalistic and deeply penetrating musk! Without hesitating I take one step back. It’s still there. Recovering from the first shock I am turning slightly to the left as it disappears. Nothing now. I move closer to the smooth flexible wall counter-clockwise. This brings me back to the more pleasant less pungent aroma I perceived one minute earlier. This one is less volatile, has less volume so to speak. By shifting my weight from one foot to another I try to find the exact border between the two. And there it is! Sharp like a knife. Apparently movement facilitates a spatial perception of odour to such a level that it becomes a floating and clearly defined shape.
‘Because we have two nostrils and because we can move, we are able to perceive smells in stereo and navigate through a space by inhaling’, Maki Ueda tells the audience before inviting them to visit ‘Olfactoscape’ during the V2 ‘Smell this’ event on the 15th of March. ‘Remember to keep your eyes closed and to move slowly’, she adds with a serious expression on her face. ‘Olfacto’ referring to the sense of smell and ‘scape’ to a landscape, this circular installation containing the most important components of the famous Chanel no. 5, enables visitors to experience space by one of our most underrated senses. ‘Why did you choose this type of construction’ one curious bystander remarks. Ueda: ‘When you stand in the middle, you perceive the harmony, that’s why this installation is organized as a circle, although a labybrinth or a rectangular narrow space would have been interesting as well’.
‘This was the first modern perfume’, she continues. ‘All perfumers educated now have to be able to reproduce it’. Chanel no. 5 is a so-called signature perfume. Its origins are surrounded by myths. One of the stories is that of a perfume mixer that somehow overdosed on aldehydes and ‘boom’: the birth of the first modern perfume, which - supposedly by mistake - has an extremely characteristic aroma. When isolated, these aldehydes are somewhat unpleasant and ‘fatty’ as Maki describes them.
Most of us are familiar with the fact that odours that are perceived as foul or hideous when secluded, turn out to pleasant and (wildly) attractive when covered with floral or fruity top notes. Musk and indole (to be found in human feces and associated with prostitutes at that time) are suddenly acceptable by upper class women when combined with vanilla or citrus. Chanel no. 5 is one of these layered almost schizophrenic perfumes. By deconstructing and grouping the most important ingredients, the artist presents to us a three-dimensional version of the most famous perfumes of all times. She allows us to smell the less agreeable odorants separately, exposing the bare naked femme fatale (base notes) underneath the civilized dressed up lady at the surface (top and middle notes). This makes it a bit like watching a scary movie. You know something is about to happen, but you can’t predict when. But your body knows before your mind.
Beside this more conceptual layer, there is a poetic and purely sensual aspect to the work which one can exclusively become aware of while experiencing this aromatic landscape. It forces you to combine several of your senses as if they were one: touch, smell and proprioception or kinaesthesia. A kinaesthetic experience is usually conceived by sight and even sound in combination with movement. This less well known sense tells us what our position is in a defined space. The unique circumstances provided by Olfactoscape, hand us the possibility to navigate through space with our hands, nose and body. The knowledge of the presence of certain ingredients, such as indole, aldehydes and musk, offers an extra dimension. Once you perceive them, being aware of the fact that your body almost described 360 degrees by this point, they function as a grand finale.
After exchanging the darkness and consolation of the installation for ‘neutral’ air and sharp electric light I am in a complete different state of mind. The mindful and multi-sensorial journey through Chanel no. 5 definitely left its mark on me.
Caro Verbeek
15.3.12
live streaming of Test_Lab (V2_) tomorrow
Test_Lab (V2_) tomorrow will be live-streamed on this page.
From:
20:00 Central European Time
March 15th 2012.
Smell cannot be streamed though! :-)
8.3.12
Test_Lab: Smell This! @V2, March 15th 2012
Test_Lab: Smell This!
Witness the decomposition of Chanel No. 5, sniff out a partner, taste with your nostrils, and more treats for the nose. With Sissel Tolaas, Susana Soares and Maki Ueda. Opening: Caro Verbeek.
March 15th
20:00 to 23:00
location: V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam
Demonstrations: Sissel Tolaas (NO/DE) | Susana Soares (PT) |Maki Ueda (JP/NL) | Opening: Caro Verbeek (NL) | Performance: Jorg Hempenius (AJ Scentman, NL) | DJ: BEATNOLOGIC (NL)
Would you rather give up your sense of smell or your smartphone? A recent worldwide study conducted among youths aged 16 - 22 found that more than half of them would chose technology over their own sense of smell. What good is a nose anyway when all your friends, entertainment and sources of information are online? This edition of Test_Lab will reveal that your sense of smell might actually be the best reason to stay connected to the physical world. While the communication industry is fixated on visual and aural communication, it is the work of pioneering olfactory artists that points out the significance and potential of communication through smell.
In this edition of V2_’s Test_Lab, Maki Ueda performs a live experiment in decomposing the legendary fragrance Chanel No. 5, Susana Soares shows you how to sniff out a partner, and one of the world’s greatest scent experts, Sissel Tolaas, lets you taste with your nostrils. Art-historian Caro Verbeek kicks off the evening with a talk on smelly art, accompanied by a genuine AJ (Aroma Jockey).
Smell all of this at Test_Lab!
This event will be streamed live in this page. March 15, 20:00 CET
OLFACTOSCAPE
OLFACTOSCAPE - deconstructing Chanel No. 5 - (2012) is a work by Maki Ueda.
OLFACTO (= olfactory) SCAPE (= scenery)
OLFACTOSCAPE is an invisible panorama painting. It's a 3m diameter space created with a curtain. The walls are "painted" with smells.
Perfume is a composition of multiple ingredients, often more than a hundred. Making a perfume is like making a piece of music: creating a harmony with multiple tones. In this version of the OLFACTOSCAPE, independent components (aromatic ingredients) of Chanel No. 5 are separately placed (sprayed) at the different locations. If you stand in the middle point of the space, you would smell the "harmony." If you walk along the curtain, you would smell the "individual tones."
The intention is thus, to deconstruct the Chanel No. 5, and to reconstruct it again.
Enter the space, close your eyes, walk and sniff like a dog. Some scents come closer to you, while others fade away. When do you smell the "harmony" and when do you smell the "individual tones?" Do the scents navigate you instead of you navigating yourself? Is there any scent that attracts you, or that makes you want to approach?
This project is supported by Omega Ingredients.
OLFACTOSCAPE is an invisible panorama painting. It's a 3m diameter space created with a curtain. The walls are "painted" with smells.
Perfume is a composition of multiple ingredients, often more than a hundred. Making a perfume is like making a piece of music: creating a harmony with multiple tones. In this version of the OLFACTOSCAPE, independent components (aromatic ingredients) of Chanel No. 5 are separately placed (sprayed) at the different locations. If you stand in the middle point of the space, you would smell the "harmony." If you walk along the curtain, you would smell the "individual tones."
The intention is thus, to deconstruct the Chanel No. 5, and to reconstruct it again.
Enter the space, close your eyes, walk and sniff like a dog. Some scents come closer to you, while others fade away. When do you smell the "harmony" and when do you smell the "individual tones?" Do the scents navigate you instead of you navigating yourself? Is there any scent that attracts you, or that makes you want to approach?
This project is supported by Omega Ingredients.
19.2.12
Sake factory visit: this is how sake is made!
Wakura Sake Brewery, Chiba Japan
Syubo contains all the aspects of fragrance that sake develops: ester note like apple, pear, grape, and acid note like milk acid, even including the fatty acid note.
Syubo turns sugar into alcohol.
Koji turns rice into sugar.
Making "koji" (rice bacteria) under the controlled temperature and humidity.
Sake is stored in the tanks.
Sake is strongly connected to Shintoism.
The black bacteria contributes to the flavor of sake.
Rice. Made in Chiba (local).
Polished rice.
Rice soaked in water. Very exact work to the seconds.
Steaming the rice. Also strict to seconds.
Drying the steamed rice.
Making "syubo", the mother of sake - a kind of yeast.
Syubo contains all the aspects of fragrance that sake develops: ester note like apple, pear, grape, and acid note like milk acid, even including the fatty acid note.
Syubo turns sugar into alcohol.
Koji turns rice into sugar.
Making "koji" (rice bacteria) under the controlled temperature and humidity.
Now everything in one pot together and fermentation process starts. In this stage it's called "moromi".
I've tasted this stage of sake: tastes of all micro-organism! Feeling its energy.
Squeesing. The rest is called "sake-kasu".
Checking the alcohol percentage in the laboratory.
Flavour of apple, pear, grape, milk (acid)...
They are open for your visit. (Spoken only in Japanese though)
Wakura Sake Brewery
They are open for your visit. (Spoken only in Japanese though)
Wakura Sake Brewery
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)