The biblical story of the 3 wise men contains a curious mistranslation: Frankincense, Myrrh and a 'Golden Smell': 3 smells and no gold
This rich and conflicting history, from the divine to the diseased, as well as its potential for intimacy is captivating. It is intimate both physically and mentally. It infiltrates the body and generates potent memory/recall. The cross modality of sensory experience is often at play, exploring the potential for collaboration and/or contradiction between our senses. As of yet, smell has no place on The Internet and there is a compelling disparity between the documentation, the language and the work.
This rich and conflicting history, from the divine to the diseased, as well as its potential for intimacy is captivating. It is intimate both physically and mentally. It infiltrates the body and generates potent memory/recall. The cross modality of sensory experience is often at play, exploring the potential for collaboration and/or contradiction between our senses. As of yet, smell has no place on The Internet and there is a compelling disparity between the documentation, the language and the work.
Excerpt from [Na]Scent Language, 2019
Our opinions of smells and colours are subjective however our associations are seemingly objective. All of our senses contain subjective aspects: I like animal print, you may think it’s too kitsch to bare, I enjoy the jittering bass lines of Thundercat, you may find it unnerving. The point is we have language (written and verbal) to explain these subjectivities and tastes. Smell extends to like/dislike, musty/fragrant and the rest of the explanations are object or experience dependent (in colloquial language). These seemingly objective associations, however, highlight the potential of a collective (un)consciousness[20] encompassing smell. For example warm and pink being a fruity smell and cold and blue being a plastic smell. This gives us the possibilities of a basis of another synesthetic language, like perfume and music, from which to build upon to develop our [na]scent language.
Our opinions of smells and colours are subjective however our associations are seemingly objective. All of our senses contain subjective aspects: I like animal print, you may think it’s too kitsch to bare, I enjoy the jittering bass lines of Thundercat, you may find it unnerving. The point is we have language (written and verbal) to explain these subjectivities and tastes. Smell extends to like/dislike, musty/fragrant and the rest of the explanations are object or experience dependent (in colloquial language). These seemingly objective associations, however, highlight the potential of a collective (un)consciousness[20] encompassing smell. For example warm and pink being a fruity smell and cold and blue being a plastic smell. This gives us the possibilities of a basis of another synesthetic language, like perfume and music, from which to build upon to develop our [na]scent language.
