SCNews

AJ+ Segment & Al Jazeera Documentary about Oud

AJ+ Arabic has produced a brief segment about oud:
“The price per kilogram for one of the finest kinds of oud incense is $9 million! als does it smell?”

Screenshot 2016-03-28 16.15.45

“80 Ferrari cars equal the price of this piece of wood, a very rare piece that weights 16 kilograms.
20 million dollars = 80 Ferrari cars!
If you owned it, you’d burn it. Don’t be amazed! This piece is one of the highest quality ouds called kinam.
There are many kinds of oud. It prices have risen rapidly due to the high demand on it in the past ten years.
The regions of the world that consume the most oud are: the Arab Gulf countries, China, and perfume-producing European countries.
The trees that produce out grow in southeast Asia.”

Al Jazeera has also produced a documentary titled “The Smoke of Gold” which examines oud as a social icon in the Arabian Gulf states, a symbol of hospitality and warmth, the smell of which is purported to chase away the blues. The documentary is filled with details and valuable information about this beguiling material and its methods of extraction and production. It charts its journey from India and Southeast Asia (Thailand and Malaysia), the only areas where the trees it’s extracted from grow, to France and Britain. The full documentary is available to watch online (in Arabic, without subtitles) on Al Jazeera Arabic YouTube channel: http://ajar.io/am5j

(Translated by Ashraf Osman)

SCI events, SCI talks & presentations

Scent Culture Institute @ Esxence 2016 in Milano

If you’re at Esxence 2016 in Milano next week, join us for a topical panel discussion: Judging & Criticism in Artistic Perfumery

Continue reading Scent Culture Institute @ Esxence 2016 in Milano →

Scent Culture Comment & Review, SCI cultural production, SCI talks & presentations

From Sniffing to Art: The Sense of Smell in Artistic Production

In the context of the on-going re-examination of the collection at Kunstmuseum Thun, the first exhibition curated by Ashraf Osman and Anja Seiler focused on the olfactory aspects of the material and techniques of art making, which are often smelly, yet widely neglected. In this context, Claus Noppeney gave a talk on 16 March titled “From Sniffing to Art: The Sense of Smell in Artistic Production”. Continue reading From Sniffing to Art: The Sense of Smell in Artistic Production →

event, SCNews

Elodie Pong: “Paradise Paradoxe”

A fragrant exhibition at Helmhaus Zürich
11 March – 8 May 2016 

You can close your eyes but you can’t turn off your nose. Elodie Pong, video and installation artist from Zurich, investigates the invisible olfactory architecture that surrounds us as the point of departure for her solo exhibition at Helmhaus Zürich. Visitors encounter plants that ripened in a 3-D printer, a robot that hurls the names of perfumes at the wall – and a fragrance that has never been smelled before (White, developed in collaboration with Roman Kaiser of Givaudan).

You can find more information (in German) here, or in English (as PDF).

And if you’re in Zurich, please join us tomorrow for the first meet-up of the Scent Culture Club (SCC) at the Karl der Grosse Center in the heart of the city (right across from Grossmünster)!

 

Thought leadership, talks, workshops, cultural production & consulting in an experiential & aesthetic economy Bern, Zürich, Schweiz