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What would your portrait look like based on your smell ?

An installation in Moscow is inviting visitors to create their scent portraits and sniff their way through a new exhibition dedicated to olfactory (smelly) art.   

STORY-LINE:

This might look like a chemistry lab, but these potions are art as well as science.  

Each of the flasks contain a different scent ready for visitors to take a sniff and interpret as they wish.

They are part of an art installation called  "MeMoMe_2020" by Norwegian scent expert Sissel Tolaas which is currently at the at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow.

"I have smelled these scents many times, I have sniffed every flask, and I sniff them again and again because every another visitor has another association with the smell. I have learned how a wet vine smells when I thought that it was the smell of something smoked coming from a flask," says museum guide Katya Shuikova.

Some of the smells are pleasant while others not so.....  

And nobody is left indifferent to them.  Tolaas' intention is for the scents to evoke forgotten memories.

"These are just abstract scents as if it is an abstract painting, for example. But anyway, the visitors find their own memories in them," says Shuikova.

The installation is part of a wider exhibition at the Garage Museum called "10th Art Experiment: You're on Air," billed as an exploration of the "poetic, magical and mnemonic properties of scents".

Stepping behind this curtain leads visitors to an installation by Russian art-group "Where Dogs Run".

Here, a machine analyses peoples' personal scent and an algorithm creates a portrait with the results.

The smell is unique for every person, like the iris or fingerprints.

"In these pipes, there are gas detectors, which pull in the "personal smell data" of a person. They then enter this camera, where they are converted, which then transforms it into a portrait of the aroma," explains museum guide, Polina Shmelyeva.

The portrait evolves if the machine smells a new aroma.

The artists used real photos to develop the project. Through what they term a "techno-pessimistic" installation the artists want to tell visitors that anyone can be smelled and categorised and that this could become another biometric tool that could be used against people.

"The work is based on the police data files of photo robots. The artists from Yekaterinburg - which created this installation - they want to demonstrate the dark side of modern technologies," explains Shmelyeva.

Wannabe perfumers can get a taste of the job at the Alchemy of Scents workshop - created by Russian perfumer Anna Agurina.

First, participants listen to a short lecture about the olfactory pyramid - the structure of a perfume.

Then, they choose three scents from a perfume organ and mix them to create their own fragrance.

"In total there are ten formulas. One after the other we apply them on the piece of paper -  called a blotter - each of the scents, smell them, choosing three we like the most, and then mix them all together in equal proportions. In the end, we get a perfume," says museum guide, Masha Kalinina.

The Candle, From Earth into a Black Hole, by Scottish artist Katie Paterson offers us a sensory trip through the Solar system.

The candle contains a few dozen different aromas. The smells change as another level of candle burns down.

"This wonderful work is never equal to itself, in each moment of time it represents another sensational experience. It exhales absolutely different aromas during the time of its life. And the work includes the olfactory experience, the burning candle, and this marvellous legend - created by the artist - in which various smells correspond to these or other astronomical objects of the Solar system," says the exhibition curator, Iaroslav Volovod.

Every level of the candle has been assigned to a legend (representation) on the wall to create the imaginary journey based on smell.

"Right now the candle smells with a geranium. This means that according to the legend offered to us by the artist, we are located in the stratosphere, at the very start of the big and interesting trip which will, unfortunately, end with a black hole," says Volovod.

According to the artist, the Black Hole will be odourless.

Volovod says the exhibition is a sign that museums are ready to display sensational art based on body experience, practice, and beliefs.

"The art-experiment  'You are on air' is not an exhibition devoted to some retrospective review of the olfactory art in the world. Neither it is a fair of the scents art. Rather it is a thematic group exhibition which demonstrates a special, light, weightless ether state that every one of us can enter."

This year's art experiment ends with a meditation in a room full of flowers, created by American artist Jess Hirsch.

In her workshop "Energetic Flower Stand" people first analyse the state of their body and then gather flowers that reflect the state of their soul.

"On the masterclass visitors can make a small meditation with the guide during which scan their body for the psychological and emotional state. As well as to think what was the past year for you, under which sign you enter this year, maybe you have success at work or you are in big love, or the opposite - there is a muddle in your life. And through this dialogue with the guide, you create a healing flower bouquet that will reflect your state of mind," explains Volovod.

"10th Art Experiment: You're on Air" opened at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art on 2nd January 2020 and runs until January 12th.

Moscow, Russia, January 4, 2020

1. Various of "MeMoMe_2020" by Norwegian artist Sissel Tolaas

2. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Katya Shuikova, exhibition guide:

"I have smelled these scents many times, I have sniffed every flask, and I sniff them again and again because every another visitor has another association with the smell. I have learned how a wet vine smells when I thought that it was the smell of something smoked coming from a flask."

3. Various of people smelling the scents coming from the flasks at "MeMoMe_2020" by Norwegian artist Sissel Tolaas

4. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Katya Shuikova, exhibition guide:

"These are just abstract scents as if it is an abstract painting, for example. But anyway, the visitors find their own memories in them."

5. Mid of a flask at "MeMoMe_2020" by Norwegian artist Sissel Tolaas

6. Various of "The Faces of Smell" by Russian art-group "Where Dogs Run"

7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Polina Shmelyeva, exhibition guide:

"In these pipes, there are gas detectors, which pull in the "personal smell data" of a person. They then enter this camera, where they are converted, which then transforms it in a portrait of the aroma."

8. Various of "The Faces of Smell" by Russian art-group "Where Dogs Run"

9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Polina Shmelyeva, exhibition guide:

"The work is based on the police data files of photo robots. The artists from Yekaterinburg - which created this installation - they want to demonstrate the dark side of modern technologies."

10. Wide of "The Faces of Smell" by Russian art-group "Where Dogs Run"

11. Various of the workshop "The Alchemy of Scents" by Russian perfumer Anna Agurina

12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Masha Kalinina, exhibition guide:

"In total there are ten formulas. One after the other we apply them on the piece of paper -  called a blotter - each of the scents, smell them, choosing three we like the most, and then mix them all together in equal proportions. In the end, we get a perfume."

13. Various of formulas on a perfume organ, blotters

14. Various of mixing a perfume at a workshop"The Alchemy of Scents" by Russian perfumer Anna Agurina

15. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Anna Rychkova, exhibition visitor:

"In my perfume, I have the "electric banana", a water lily, and a moonstone. I have mixed the three of them and got a very fresh fragrance. A very fresh and light fragrance."

16. Various of visitors at "Candle (From Earth into a Black Hole)" by Scottish artist Katie Paterson

17. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Iaroslav Volovod, exhibition curator:

"This wonderful work is never equal to itself,  in each moment of time it represents another sensational experience. It exhales absolutely different aromas during the time of its life. And the work includes the olfactory experience, the burning candle, and this marvellous legend - created by the artist - in which various smells correspond to these or other astronomical objects of the Solar system."

18. Mid of a sign "Geraniums" pan to a sign "Stratosphere"

19. Wide of the sign

20. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Iaroslav Volovod, exhibition curator:

"Right now the candle smells like a geranium. This means that according to the legend offered to us by the artist, we are located in the stratosphere, at the very start of the big and interesting trip which will, unfortunately, end with a black hole."

21. Pan down of the sign towards the note "Black Hole"

22. Mid of the candle being put out

23. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Iaroslav Volovod, exhibition curator:

"The art-experiment "You are on air" is not an exhibition devoted to some retrospective review of the olfactory art in the world. Neither it is a fair of the scents art. Rather it is a thematic group exhibition which demonstrates a special, light, weightless ether state that every one of us can enter."

24. Various of people meditating at the workshop "Energetic Flower Stand" by American artist Jess Hirsch

25. Wide of sign in Russian "Jess Hirsch. How to put together a bouquet of energy?"

26. Wide of flowers

27. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Iaroslav Volovod, exhibition curator:

"On the masterclass visitors can make a small meditation with the guide during which scan their body for the psychological and emotional state. As well as to think what was the past year for you, under which sign you enter this year, maybe you have success at work or you are in big love, or the opposite - there is a muddle in your life. And through this dialogue with the guide, you create a healing flower bouquet that will reflect your state of mind."

28. Various of people choosing flowers   

29. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Konstantin Nechepurenko, visitor:

"I don't pay attention to smells. And here it is all made very interesting. I like the art. I'm interested in it. And that the scents here are an association to the art is a completely another dimension to what the art represents."

30. Various of bouquets being packed by the guide

31. Wide of a guide spraying the flowers at the workshop "Energetic Flower Stand" by American artist Jess Hirsch