SENSING SPACES

 

Sensing Spaces, a beautiful, “sense-provoking” architecture exhibition, is on at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Consisting of 8 installations put together by some of the world’s leading architects in the RA galleries, it encourages the sensory exploration of space. A must-see for all I’d say.

What I experienced…

Interaction.
I have been welcomed to interact with space and people. We were invited to mould space with colours as we liked, in the installation where architecture is intended as a space for the community.

Looking for directions.
I got lost in enlightened wooden maze to then find myself contemplating the experience of space as defined by the sound of my steps.

Climbing for details.
Shifting sensations as the exhibition progressed, I “climbed” a “wooden” monument which put me in contact with the otherwise unexplored Neoclassical details of the gallery. Going up and down the monument making me also contemplate the greatness of the space and its relationship with time.

Uncertainty.
Or at least this is what I felt. Probably my favourite installation. Created with a clever combination of (what looked like) concrete and light, it made me feel “trapped” underground, reliant on destiny and its changes. It reminded me of the electric sounds of Alva Noto, of metallic, wet, underground smells.

The scent of Japanese aesthetics.
Marvellously put together, the shape and smell of imbued bamboo has raised my awareness of the invisible architectures found in a traditional Japanese space.

For more on space and senses, check posts on Invisible Architecture book, the smell of knowledge and Design With Scents course.

God bless architects!

 

BEAUTY AND ART 001

It is fascinating how much the world of beauty, as in cosmetics, is always searching for new interpretations, aesthetics and solutions to make us feel “beautiful”, allegedly answering our own quest for beauty. Tonight I went to an inspiring evening of beauty and art, presented by Asian story-tellers. 

It was the launch of 001 (Double Zero One) beauty brand by Ada Ooi, who I met at Design With Scents 2013. A trained beauty therapist / aromatherapist and advertising strategist all together, Ada has that typical determination and energy which I found in Hong Kong women. 

To launch 001 Ada staged a beautiful installation in Soho, London, where we experienced her innovative range, designed to “return skin to a natural equilibrium” through works of contemporary Asian artists, who produced different pieces, interpreting her products.

Korean Olfactory artist Kyung Park (and another Design With Scents participant) was given the “Intensive Elixir”, a beautifully balanced blend of Sandalwood, Myrrh and other essential oils, as an inspiration. Kyung produced 31 seconds, an animation portrait of a virtual place, aiming to represent the similarity she found between the scent-making and painting processes.

Artist Rudy Chan Lam, a self-thought illustrator, focused on lavender with an ink on paper work, exploring the multifunctional use of lavender throughout history, from King Charles of France’s lavender cushions to the story of Rene Gattefosse, one of the founders of modern aromatherapy.

A miniature model by Taiwan-based artist Melissa Lin Ching-I depicted the adventures of the 001  team interacting with people and cultures as they searched for the right ingredients. “Miniature art requires you to look into the piece and discover new things”, says Ada, in line with Confucius’ quote appearing on 001 products: “Everything has a beauty, but not everyone sees it”.

The installation also included a small Tea Room, where a Japanese lady invited us to the appreciation of Green Tea and its ceremony, this ingredient being key in one of 001 products. It was in the silence, taste and gestures of the Japanese ritual that I saw a sense of beauty and art.

This dialogue between cosmetics and art was really enjoyable to experience. It nourished my skin and my spirit. Thank you to Ada and her team for suggesting a new way to feel beautiful. Perhaps this is what the future of beauty is about.

 

HYOI'S FABRICS

 

Last year at Design With Scents I met Hyoi Kim, a very talented Korean student who explores the relationship between textiles and scents. Today I had the pleasure to see her interesting MA project which she is doing at the MA Textile Print of the Royal College of Art.

The project is about translating scent into textiles. Hyoi has created an experimental series of fabrics inspired by perfume making, giving a visual and tactile interpretation of the so-called gourmand and aldehydes ingredients used in perfumery.

For those in London, I recommend you check this one-of-a-kind textile/scent project, which is being exhibited as part of the RCA School of Material Work-in-progress Student Show until 19 January 2014. Congratulations to Hyoi, keep up the good work!

OLFACTORY ART

As you may know, Berlin has been the scene of my recent scent explorations, where we had the greatest luck of doing a scent-immersion with perfumers duo and avant-garde scent artists Les Christophs (Christophe Laudamiel and Christoph Hornetz). 

Christophe Laudamiel created the first Scent Opera for the Guggenheim Museum in NY, has exhibited at Grasse Perfume Museum as well as galleries. He is an outstanding gem in the world of perfumery as the only Master Perfumer who wholeheartedly engages with such art and educational initiatives. 

Several people flew in at our "Duft-Visions" workshops, including Prof. Claus Noppeney, a Swiss academic who is doing something outstanding in the academic world: he is carefully studying the perfume-making process as part of an ethnographic project. 

Duft Haus Berlin

As a result of these extraordinary encounters, I will be running the first "Olfactory Art and Design" course ever done for the academia, at the University of the Arts Bern next year, part of the Y Institute programme, Centre for Transdisciplinary Tuition. 

The application of scents in art and design around the world is growing, bypassing their traditional use for fine fragrance creation. Artists and designers, but also curators and educators, are expressing their work through the sense of smell. 

A very powerful sense, as in evocative and emotional, scent can create a unique, immersive experience, through the stimulation of an often neglected sensory modality which is so much connected with our own personal experience.

At the "Olfactory Art and Design" course MA and BA cross-discipline students will explore multiple correspondences between their areas of expertise and the sense of smell, crossing the boundaries amongst different forms of expression. They will study a palette of real ingredients used in perfumery and produce an Olfactory Art and Design project.

Very much looking forward to it!

NP/SP