The Institute for Art and Olfaction’s gallery is devoted to exhibitions, performances, installations and other expressions that make use of or engage with the medium of scent. 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.
VISITING
IAO Gallery is open fridays from 1 to 5pm and by appointment during exhibitions.
Please contact us at hello@artandolfaction.com to request an appointment.
The IAO Gallery is accessible by wheelchair. However, please note that there is a one inch cement lip at the entry to the IAO.
+ Maps and parking information here
COMING UP
From Memory to A Sign من ذكرى إلى علامة
by Dana El Masri
Exhibition Dates: September 4 – October 23, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, September 4, 2026 from 6-8pm
The IAO Gallery is pleased to host From Memory to A Sign من ذكرى إلى علامة by Dana El Masri. This exhibition gathers works created from 2009 to 2026; a constellation of pieces in dialogue with each other across time. Each work forms a living archive of memory, imagination, and material. The space unfolds as a multi-sensory playground, a room of inner workings, wonder and expression. Foraged fragments from nature, collected across countries and years, merge with memory to reveal how identity is built from many specific and special parts. Through ceramic, flowers, sound, and scent, the exhibition invites us to rediscover traces of home in faraway places, and to feel how memory can be both fragile and rooted. An act of remembrance and rediscovery.
Pictured: Shim El Yasmeen Thani, by Dana El Masri
Learn more
Download press release
PAST
Learn about past exhibitions on the menu, at the right of this page.
Residencies and artists not listed on 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 Saraï
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