Scent Week
Biennial
At venues across Los Angeles
Pump up your bike tires, dust off your metro ticket or gas up your car, and join us to connect with your fellow Angelenos and our international guests in this bacchanalia of everything aromatic.
Through a diverse and eclectic series of talks, workshops, exhibitions, projects, and parties, Scent Week shines a spotlight on global perfumery practices, in the context of Los Angeles’ thriving independent perfume scene.
Scent Week was meant to launch in May of 2020 as the first city-wide celebration of scent for Los Angeles. Covid did the rest! We were thrilled to present Scent Week in 2023, three years late but with three extra days of celebration.
The next Scent Week is scheduled for Spring, 2025, in Los Angeles. Want to partner or have a progam idea? Email us at hello@artandolfaction.com
2023 Scent Week
May 4 – 14, 2023
We had a blast at our inaugural Scent Week.
Together with friends and partners, Scent Week presents an eclectic array of programming that explores the diverse and exciting perfumery practices in Los Angeles, and beyond.
We kicked things off on Thursday, May 4th with multi-level celebration of smell at The Aster, in Hollywood. Cinema SENTIR presented a very special multi-sensorial screening of Blade Runner (Dir. Ridley Scott, 1982) in the screening room. Upstairs, on the rooftop, the film was screened in the Aster’s outdoor cinema, follored by a specially commissioned video produced by Alex The Brown featuring the world’s most iconic perfume influencers.
We reconvened on the 5th of May for a preview party for the third edition of Scent Fair LA at Craft Contemporary, produced with long-term collaborator Darin Klein. For the opening party DJs Cocteautwinks + Jaqck Glam working their magic as we explored the various aromatic offerings of the fair. Over the rest of the weekend, 22 international perfumers showcased their work, along with workshops by P.F. Candle Co. and the Institute for Art and Olfaction, and a keynote conversation between artist Steven Gontarski and IAO founder Saskia Wilson-Brown about the art and business of working with scent.
On Monday, May 8th, perfumers Dana El Masri (Jazmin Saraï) and perfumer and author Tanaïs (In Sensorium: Notes For My People) held a thoughtful conversation about representation in perfumery, rooted their talk in two perfumes created by the artists. On the 9th, the festivities move to Travertine Studio in Orange County, where perfumer Terry Carter presented a marketplace, as well as a panel with Christophe Laudamiel (DreamAir), Chavalia Mwamba (Pink MahogHany), and Ethan Turner (Moi Fragrances). That evening, the Institute for Art and Olfaction hosted a private view celebrating Olfactory Peregrinations, an exhibition of Romanian artist Cristian Marianciuc’s delicate paper works inspired by important contemporary perfumes.
On May 11, we celebrated the 9th Art and Olfaction Awards in a glamorous, international, and above all welcoming affair at the stunning Art Deco-themed Cicada Club in downtown Los Angeles. Once the awards were over, we enjoyed scent-themed cocktails at Death & Co., in the Arts District of downtown LA.
On May 12th, Maxwell Williams and UFO Parfums presented Liquadora, a scent rave with DJ Python, Mapamota (Serenity Link), Carré B2B SAMWISE (Fast At Work), and Eau (UFO Parfums). On Saturday the 13th, perfumers Yosh, Persephenie and Linda Sivrican explored aura reading, paper incense-making, and perfumery at Capsule Parfumerie. Later that day, perfumers Jack Kelly and Natalie Coffen lead a scent walk in Northeast Los Angeles, while in Venice Beach, Rachel Binder (Pomare’s Stolen Perfume) and Jackie Brenner (De Kloka Perfumes) presented Flower Potions, exploring the links between botanical perfumery, natural wine, artisanal spirits, and craft cocktails. At night, collective by Nose Garde presented Citromancy, a salon-style scent-driven divination ritual, accordion fiddle drone/song performance and citrus smelling.
Scent Week concluded on Sunday May 14 with A panel and bodega exploring Scent, Art, and Community at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, featuring a panel discussion led by Maxwell Williams, with Andreas Keller (Olfactory Art Keller), Maki Ueda (olfactory artist), Hyungi Park (artist), and Saskia Wilson Brown (the Institute of Art and Olfaction).
+ Visit the Scent Week website
For questions or ideas, email us at hello@artandolfaction.com.