Portraiture is known as a visual art genre. Yet, working with body odors has given rise to artistic works that explore new sensory territories. A lecture with Claus Noppeney at Columbia College in Chicago discussed this development: Can a smell represent a person? How is an olfactory portrait experienced in...
Seasonal Greetings!
“B. O.” is the indispensable Other of the perfume and fragrance industry, despised and feared at the same time; to be eradicated, yet its raison d’etre.” – HANS RINDISBACHER
Body odor impacting on other’s work performance
Human body odors can transfer anxiety-related signals. This is a well documented fact. Yet, it is an open question how these signals impact in real-life situations.
The social role of a perfume
“Perfume plays a social role in that it effects a unique synthesis of individual egoistical and social purposes in the field of the sense of smell.” – GEORG SIMMEL
Olfaction is the message
There are different ways how to address smell in advertizing. Campaigns in perfumery are an obvious case. Moreover, we recently discussed how even negative feedback on the olfactory quality of a product is used in advertizing. The example of today stands out in a different way.
Symbol of the self
“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
“I sense therefore I am”
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.
Scent masquerade!
This iconic narrative from the Judeo-Christian tradition is full of olfactory references that are topical today:
Breathing in different sensory worlds
“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
Smelly wheels: In search of alternatives
Visual representations of smell are one of the core themes of our presence on Instagram: Wheel, circle, and pie have recently appeared as recurring and influential visual metaphors. The fragrance wheel created by Michael Edwards is perhaps the most prominent example these days. But the history of visualizations demonstrates that...
Smell matters in migration politics!
In the context of the ongoing controversy on migration politics in Germany, Thomas de Mazière, the Federal Minister of the Interior, joined the group of advocats of a Leitkultur: “Wir sind nicht Burka”.
Gallery exhibition at Berlin: Perfume in art & fashion
Michael Müller, best known as a sculptor, shows in his recent exhibition at the Berlin based gallery Thomas Schulte a series of small sculptures taking the form of perfumes, soaps etc. The perfume contains a drop of the artist’s sweat as Michael Müller remarks in an interview:
Deo-odorizing can be dangerous
The Times recently reported that a schoolgirl died after being overcome by fumes from her deodorant while on a family holiday:
New Materials for de-odorizing the fashion world
Wool-blend tees are promoted for keeping your outdoor stink-free as Wired reported:
Olfactory language in British fiction
Scent has so far remained largely sidelined into the context of the eighteenth-century novel. Reading Smell by Emily Friedman and published in 2016 provides models for how to incorporate olfactory knowledge into new readings of the literary form central to our understanding of the eighteenth century and modernity in general: the...
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