IAO Gallery plays host to visual art, performative, and installation-based exhibitions from artists working at the intersection of scent and art. We welcome artists from around the world in collaborative exhibitions that showcase visual art, performance, installation and – of course – scent.
The IAO gallery form has changed over the years in response to the space that the IAO has occupied. Since 2016, the IAO Gallery occupies a 154 square foot room located within the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Chinatown, as well as two window display spaces facing Chung King Road.
CURRENTLY
Unveiling the Essence:
A Journey into Perfumery Formulas
Curated by Urs Staheli and Saskia Wilson-Brown
May 3 – June 13, 2025
The Institute for Art and Olfaction is honored to welcome an exhibition exploring the perfume formula. Co-curated by professor Urs Stäheli and IAO founder Saskia Wilson-Brown, this exhibition aims to showcase perfume formulas as cultural and aesthetic artifacts, presenting them in their entirety—from initial drafts to final compositions—to highlight the complex artistry inherent in these meticulously crafted lists of ingredients, and their various organizational structures.
COMING UP
Ether
Aromatic Mythologies
At Craft Contemporary
May 30 – September 7, 2025
Transcending geographical boundaries, mythology conveys universal truths and archetypal constructs. Smell, similarly, possesses a remarkable capacity to do away with immediate temporal constraints. Unsurprisingly, many cultures use smell as a conduit to different realms of human awareness, memory and consciousness. Smell, therefore, creates an ethereal connection that underscores the profound and often mysterious impact that sensory experiences can have on the human sense of selfhood. Expanding on this, Ether: Aromatic Mythologies examines the confluence of storytelling, identity, and scent by delving into ancient, modern, personal, or entirely invented mythologies. The thirteen olfactory artworks on show seek to explain our most fundamental understanding of ourselves, and how scent can impact systems of meaning in relation to the inexplicable, the historical, or the unknown.
Residencies and artists not listed in the menu at the right
Hilda Kozari
Residency
November 18-26, 2014
A 9 day arts and research residency, with Hilda Kozari (Finland), where Kozari researched aromatic components for the smell of Proust’s Madeleine.
Jazmin Sarai
Residency
September 1-10, 2014
A ten day artist residency with perfumer Dana El Masri (Montreal, Quebec)
Imitations of Life
by Ben Chase
August-September, 2014
A site-specific exhibition of prints by Ben Chase, exploring the visual tropes of perfume advertising.
Pen on Paper, Drawings
by Sarana Mehra
May-June, 2014
IAO presents an exhibition of pen and ink drawings by British-born artist, Sarana Mehra.
Four Paintings
by Franco Castilla
November-December, 2013
IAO presents an exhibition of paintings by Franco Castilla, on view at IAO’s experimental laboratory at downtown’s L.A. Mart.
Desire Lines and Garden Paths: Nine Years of Type
by Micah Hahn
April, 2013
IAO presents a wide-ranging exhibition of typographic and graphic work by designer and artist Micah Hahn. Covering nine years of type development, Hahn presents over forty printed works on paper.
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Questions? Email us at hello@artandolfaction.com