[Oberlist] Olfaction ~ 29th May - 7th June 2009 ~ Empty Shop, Durham

[Alice Bradshaw]

Olfaction

Friday 29th May - Sunday 7th June 2009

Olfaction presents nine pieces of visual art which contain an element
or an allusion to the sense of smell. Attempts have been made by
national and international artists to subvert the dominance of the
visual sense with the introduction of the olfactory. The works will
emit smells amongst other artworks in small intimate spaces at the
Empty Shop Gallery.

Empty Shop
94C Gilesgate
Durham
DH1 2JA
http://www.emptyshop.org/

Artists:
Mark Bell
Alice Bradshaw
Barbara Anna Husar
Naomi Kendrick
Mark Porter
Ashley Rowe
Alex Rhys-Taylor
Guiliana Sommantico
thickandtasty

Curated by Diana Ali

Foreword by Daniel Jones
(Edited extract from 'The Whiff of the Real')

Olfaction is the neglected sense of the fine art world. Though an art
work has to metaphorically ‘smell’ or at least create a stink in order
to seduce me, tradition dictates the obfuscation of odour in the
gallery space. Marshall McLuhan charts the prioritising of the visual
sense over others through the invention of the printing press and the
spread of universal literacy, a historical development he describes as
superseding the ‘acoustic space’ that dominated pre-Guttenberg (the
inventor of typeset printing blocks) civilisation. It would be
interesting to read a parallel analysis of how our changing sense of
and emotional reaction to smell has influenced the way we receive
information, make decisions and form aesthetic (and sometimes ethical)
judgements. Olfaction has become the C21 pariah sense. The explosion
in personal hygiene over the past century or so, combined with the
ability to synthesize almost any scent imaginable has left us divorced
from an ontological relationship with our olfactory perceptions.
Polite society and most art forms require the neutering of the sense.
I have heard audiences complain of the body odour of dancers and
actors on stage – though personally I am always impressed by this
signifier of the performers’ committed endeavours. Art galleries are
scrubbed to sterilisation, so that only the lingering traces of
cleaning products remain. Yet our love affair with ersatz scents
dominates our social lives and fills up our bathroom shelves.

Olfactory art also resists commoditisation and fixed meaning. The
scent exists for the moment and cannot be captured by technology or
recording devices. The persistence of the work is only possible
through the memory and associations of the gallery audience. As Proust
declaims in A la recherché des temps perdu "When nothing else subsists
from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken
and scattered· the smell and taste of things remain”. The peculiarly
emotive impact of smells is explained and confirmed by scientific
studies. Olfaction transits messages to the cortex AND the limbic
system, the new and old parts of the brain, meaning that our
interpretation and analysis of smells is simultaneously emotional and
cognitive: moody and rational.

http://olfactionexhibition.blogspot.com/

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