Umberto Eco, the Italian cultural theorist and novelist who became the author of best-selling novels, notably the blockbuster medieval mystery “The Name of the Rose,” died last week in Milan. Eco was a contributor to our thinking on scent culture.
smell of books
The Paper Passion perfume conceived for Handmade 2011, which bottles the seductive scent of a freshly printed books, was inspired by a throwaway line by German publisher Gerhard Steidl in the film How to Make a Book with Steidl, which suggested his favourite scent was a ‘freshly printed book’.
Eduardo Kac is internationally recognized for his telepresence and bio art. Osmobox drawings were exhibited at Galerie Charlot in Paris (2014). Osmoboxes are visually identical but completely distinct in their olfactory identity. Every scent in the Osmobox series is unique and constitutes the core of the artwork.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: The Smelly Version is just the first in a series of children’s classics that was on display at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York in 2015. Called Sensory Stories: An Exhibition of New Narrative Experiences, the exhibit featured technology that expands upon traditional story delivery methods and the way they play off the senses.
The olfactory sense, though often forgotten, is a powerful connector to memory and emotions. Diary of Smells: Shards (Estilhaços) is an on-going multi-sensorial interactive & interdisciplinary project comprised of various stages of smell production, photographs and sound design.