Olfactory art is an

art form The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

that uses

scent An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

s as a

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

. Olfactory art includes

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) 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. Th ...

as well as other applications of scent. The art form has been a recognized genre since at least 1980.

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

was one of the first artists who pioneered with using scents in art.Ashraf Osman
Historical Overview of Olfactory Art in the 20th Century
, 2013

Examples of olfactory art

In 1938, the poet Benjamin Péret roasted coffee behind screens at the

Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme The Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme was an exhibition by surrealist artists that took place from January 17 to February 24, 1938, in the generously equipped Galérie Beaux-Arts, run by Georges Wildenstein, at 140, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Hon ...

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 Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

sets where the pieces could be distinguished only by scent were made by

Takako Saito is a Japanese artist closely associated with Fluxus, the international collective of avant-garde artists that was active primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. Saito contributed a number of performances and artworks to the movement, which continu ...

in 1965. ''Spice Chess'' and ''Smell Chess'' relied on the use of spices or scented liquids in the pieces. In ''Spice Chess'', the black king was scented with

asafetida Asafoetida (; also spelled asafetida) is the dried latex ( gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of '' Ferula'', perennial herbs growing tall. They are part of the celery family, Umbelliferae. Asafoetida is ...

, the black queen with cayenne, and the black bishops with cumin. The white pieces included cinnamon pawns,

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

rooks, ginger knights and an anise white queen. ''Self-Portrait in Scent, Sketch no. 1'' was a 1994 exhibit by Clara Ursitti at The Centre for Contemporary Arts in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

.Ursitti, Clara. "Self Portrait in Scent, sketch no. 1". Retrieved from: It consisted of a small, specially constructed room outfitted with motion sensors and scent dispensers. Art historian Caro Verbeek, of the Vrije Universiteit and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, cites this work as a breakthrough in both artistic and technological terms. ''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.Lubow, Arthur. (2009). ''The Scent Of Music''. New York Mag. Retrieved from: Some scents were intended to invoke natural fragrances, while others were described as "Industrial" or "Absolute Zero". ''Sillage'' is an ongoing olfactory public artwork by

Brian Goeltzenleuchter Brian Goeltzenleuchter is an American conceptual artist and educator who works in olfactory art, social practice, and image making''.'' Early life and education Goeltzenleuchter was born in San Diego, California. In 2001 he received a Masters ...

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 A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

is intended to stimulate conversation and provide a representation of the museum's demographic. 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 The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

in Baltimore. ''LacrimAu'' was an exhibit by the Czech artist Federico Díaz at an exposition at

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. An individual could enter a glass cube containing a 30 inch tall golden teardrop. After putting on a headband, the person's

brainwaves Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by ...

would be read by sensors, which would translate them into a uniquely tailored scent. It was described as a "surprise hit".Pollack, Barbara. (2011). ''Scents & Sensibility.'' Artnews.com. Retrieved from:

Artists

* Peter de Cupere * Wolfgang Georgsdorf *

Annick Ménardo Annick Ménardo is a contemporary perfumer who has worked for the fragrance firm Firmenich since 1991. Education Ménardo has a background in biochemistry and medicine. She studied perfumery and is a graduate of the French perfume academy ISIPCA. ...

* Gayil Nalls *

Sissel Tolaas Sissel Tolaas is a Norwegian artist and researcher known for her work with smell. Sissel Tolaas was born in 1963 in Stavanger, Norway and is now based in Berlin. Tolaas has a background in chemistry, mathematics, linguistics, languages and art ...

* Clara Ursitti * Maki Ueda

Examples of olfactory art

Artists

Notes and references

Further reading