“This Flow’r whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness ev’rywhere.
True Man, yet very God;
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens ev’ry load.”
The web facility Google Trends shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. The horizontal axis of the main graph represents time (starting from 2004), and the vertical is how often selected terms are searched for relative to the total number of searches, globally.
Our comparison of a few olfactory terms reveals some peculiar pattern:
It is holiday season. This is the time of the year to feature perfumery on the front page. One would expect a portrait of one of the big brands, a review of celebrities, some sort of general interest.
“The odor is a natural sign of the self as both a physical and a moral being. The odor is a symbol of the self.” – ANTONY SYNNOTT
Cogito ergo sum is often regarded as the fundamental element of Western thought that laid the grounds for rationalism, scientific progress and modern dichotomies: I think, therefore I am. The title of this post is less well known: I sense therefore I am.
A few days ago, I happened to come across this visualization of Plato’s thought provoking Allegory of the Cave. What the captives see and hear are shadows cast be objects they do not see. But what about the fire?
Little Trees seem to be ubiquitous these days.
Tobacco smell is pretty marginalized these days. In many professions smokers are stigmatized. Public health is certainly an argument. Culturally, it is an extreme change compared to previous times. The new smoke-free is normalized.
This iconic narrative from the Judeo-Christian tradition is full of olfactory references that are topical today:
The Swiss retailer http://www.digitec.ch is currently running a thought provoking advertizing campaign. It is basically broadcasting what customers wrote about a product on the retailer’s website. This feedback needn’t be positive. It can be devastating. But it must be interesting. And in fact, the product scent – intended or accidental – occurs frequently as a matter customers care about.
The campaign aims at the general public. By now air care is normal! Stay updated and enter your […]
In 2015, we started Scent Culture News to shape and build scent culture as field. Following our mission we have highlighted and connected fragmented themes, ideas, references, and projects that relate to the sense of smell in culture, business and society. More recently, we made a pause and reflected on recurring themes, issues and concepts. As a next step we want to shift our attention from merely disseminating news to a more provocative approach: The launch of our series of smellshots is a first consequence.The heading “Monitor” serves as an umbrella for posts that inform about new development, share observations and commentaries. Thus, the posts from the old Scent Culture New site have also recently been imported to this site.
The campaign is a real thing in Switzerland right now. Stay updated and enter your email address to […]
A snapshot is a “casual photograph made typically by an amateur with a small handheld camera”. It is […]
“Americans and Arabs live in different sensory worlds much of the time and do not use the same senses even to establish most of the distances maintained during conversations.” – EDWARD HALL