Experimental Scent Summit
Various Locations
Since 2017
“[The Summit is] part of [the IAO’s] mission to build mutual support and a sense of community for this broad ranging group of creatives who may work at the margins of the fragrance industry, deep within it, or completely outside of it.”’
– Women’s Wear Daily
Presented as part of an ongoing collaboration between Los Angeles-based The Institute for Art and Olfaction and Berlin-based Smell Lab, the Experimental Scent Summit is an annual gathering where invited speakers share research and ideas in an informal, friendly setting.
ESS is presented as an ancillary (but important!) program to the Art and Olfaction Awards, and changes location for each edition.
The 1st Experimental Scent Summit took place in Berlin at Silent Green Kulturquartier in 2017.
The 2nd Experimental Scent Summit took place in London at The Swedenborg Society in 2018.
The 3rd Experimental Scent Summit took place in Amsterdam at NDSM Fuse in 2019.
The 4th Experimental Scent Summit took place online in 2020.
And the Experimental Scent Summit ESS will take place on June 6, 2024 in Lisbon.
5th Experimental Scent Summit
June 6, 2024
Casa do Alentejo, Lisbon, Portugal
The Experimental Scent Summit is an ongoing program produced by the Institute for Art and Olfaction (Los Angeles) and Smell Lab (Berlin). A non-for-profit venture, ESS is designed to build community and learning in creative practices with scent. Through informal talks, round tables and workshops, practitioners can share experimental work in an open and unrestrained environment that facilitates collaboration and inquiry.
ESS 2024 is being co-curated by Klara Ravat and Saskia Wilson-Brown, with Julianne Lee and Miguel Matos.
ATTENDANCE INFORMATION
The 5th Experimental Scent Summit will take place on June 6, in Lisbon, Portugal at the beautiful Casa do Alentejo. All are welcome, but registration is required.
This is a non-profit event. The $25.00 USD attendance fee covers venue and production costs. Tickets are available on a first come first serve basis, and are limited.
Produced with
PAST EDITIONS
4th Experimental Scent Summit
July, 2020
For the 4th annual edition, we invited an exciting roster of speakers to share and discuss issues that relate to the field of olfaction. Topics reflected the speakers’ research into social justice, technology, history, creative practice, collaboration, embodiment, and much more. As always, part of the daily schedule will include space for attendees to share their work through open mics (with sign up in advance).
This program is being engaged with as a public service, with the goal of elevating discourse in the field of olfaction, perfumery, and scent as creative practice.
The summit took place over four days in July, 2020.
EXPERIMENTAL SCENT SUMMIT (V. 3)
May 4, 2019 – Amsterdam
Curated by The Institute for Art and Olfaction + Smell Lab Berlin
at NDSM Fuse (NDSM-plein 85, 1033 WC Amsterdam)
The Institute for Art and Olfaction teams up again with artist Klara Ravat for the third annual Experimental Scent Summit. Over the course of a day, attendees will come together to share ideas with an exciting schedule of talks, breakout discussions and project presentations relating to experimental sensorial practices. A friendly, relaxed and conversational meeting of olfactory artists, the Experimental Scent Summit is an annual opportunity for participants to share their work while openly discussing the challenges of working with scent. All this and more in an unrestrained, non-competitive, supportive environment.
10:00am – Welcome, with Saskia Wilson-Brown + Klara Ravat
10:20am – Olfactory Accountability in the Age of Scent-Free Spaces, Talk by Eleonora Edreva
10:40am – The Immersive Art Through Historic Scent Recreation, Talk by Alexandra Bachand
11:00am – African oils: Is There Hope?, Talk by Bhatupe Mhango-Chipanta
11:40am – To Boldly Smell What No Man Has Smelled Before, Talk by Clara Muller
12:10pm – Lingua Planta – the olfactory language of plants, Project Presentation with Merle Bergers
12:20pm – Smoothly-Moving Parts: Scent and the Transhuman, Project Presentation with Christopher Gordon
1:30pm – Supporting AI System for Developing Personal Olfactory Language, Talk by Toshi Kurisu
1:50pm – Creative Manifestation of Olfactory Subjectivity, Talk by Eun-young Park & Eva Niezgodzki
2:30pm – Transforming politics through the borderlands of scent, Project Presentation with Cat Jones
2:40pm – From factory to stage: a soap opera dance production, Project Presentation with Anna D’Errico
2:50pm – Multisensory Virtual Reality system for astronauts’ entertainment and relaxation, Project Presentation with Marina Carulli
3:00pm – Library of Smells, Project Presentation with Alicia Bloundele and David Ottley
3:40pm – Food and Fragrance: Telling Stories with the Senses, Project Presentation with Tessa Liebman
3:50pm – Without Thought: Reuniting the Senses, Talk by Paul Schütze
4:10pm – What did the Cromhout Family Smell (Like)? The Lost Aromatic Heritage of 18th Century Amsterdam, Talk by Caro Verbeek
4:30pm – Open Mic: Who Are You and What Do You Need?
5:00pm – Plenary Discussion
5:45pm – Group Photos
ABOUT NDSM FUSE
From the end of May 2018, NDSM Fuse will facilitate a vibrant event and exhibition space in the NDSM warehouse where artists from the NDSM Art City and creative talent from outside can present themselves to the outside world. Here visitors are inspired and stimulated to return home with a richer experience or with a nice memory. The former skate park has thus become a unique meeting place where people want to come back because of the constantly changing offer, both artistic and culinary. This makes NDSM Fuse a place where art, food and people merge (merge) and from which new things arise.
EXPERIMENTAL SCENT SUMMIT (V.2)
April 18 + 19, 2018 – London
Curated by Klara Ravat + The Institute for Art and Olfaction
at The Swedenborg Society
The IAO teams up with artist Klara Ravat for the second annual Experimental Scent Summit, where over the course of two full days attendees will share an exciting schedule of talks, round tables, breakout discussions and workshops relating to experimental practices with scent. A relaxed, non-competitive and conversational meeting of olfactory artists, the Experimental Scent Summit is an opportunity for participants to share their work – and to openly discuss the challenges of working with scent in an unrestrained, like-minded environment.
DAY 1 – 18 April 2018
10:00 – WELCOME – with Saskia Wilson-Brown + Klara Ravat
10:15 – Olfactory Art – with Klara Ravat
10:45 – Poison Perfume and Other Adventures in Conceptualizing Scent – with Miguel Matos
11:15 – The Library of Smell – with Hisako Inoue
11:45 – In conversation with The Candy Perfume Boy – with Eddie Bulliqi, Thomas Dunckley
13:30 – The Olfactory project at “Museum of All and Everyone” – with Laimė Kiškūnė
14:00 – Olfactory design for healthier food intake – with Thijs Elich, Renske van Vroonhoven
14:30 – Vantaa Black Sense and the Smell of Peatland – with Hilda Kozári, Léda Vesmanen
16:00 – Sharing Olfactory Experiences – with Boris Raux
16:30 – The Nose Onstage: Olfactory Perspectives for Theatrical Work – with Dr. Anna D’Errico
17:00 – WORKSHOP: Embodied Scents – with Hortus Apertus
DAY 2 – 19 April, 2018
10:00 – A Guide to Creating Uncomfortable Questions – with Oswaldo Maciá
10:30 – Are there olfactory illusions? Why does it matter? – with Harry Sherwood
11:00 – PERFORMANCE: Sex, Sabotage, and Scent: A Table Read – with Sarah Baker and Orlando Seale
11:30 – Altered States: Transcendence and the Uncanny – with Christopher Gordon
12:00 – WORKSHOP: Natural Perfume as Limited Palette Olfactory Art – with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
13:30 – PERFORMANCE: Luxure / Occire – with Maxwell Williams
14:45 – The power of Scent. Scent in Context – with Peter De Cupere
14:00 – WORKSHOP: Olfactory Games: Maki’s Method – with Maki Ueda, Sunna Svavarsdottir, Lauren Jetty Howells-Green
16:00 – Scent Communication with Sound – with Daniel Sonabend
16:30 – The Fantasy of the Oriental Fragrance – with Julianne Lee
17:00 – The Com(m)une Perfume – with Antonio Gardoni
17:30 – New Models for Ownership in Perfume – with Saskia Wilson-Brown
ABOUT THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY
The Swedenborg Society is a publisher, library, events space, museum, bookshop and registered charity. In addition to organizing events, lectures, conferences, exhibitions, performances and film screenings, we also publish a large selection of literature relating to the work of the philosopher, scientist, inventor, astronomer, mathematician, parliamentary figure and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). The Society’s Grade II listed premises are located in Bloomsbury, central London.
EXPERIMENTAL SCENT SUMMIT (V.1)
May 5, 2017 – Berlin
Curated by Klara Ravat + The Institute for Art and Olfaction
at SilentGreen Kulturquartier
The 2017 Experimental Scent Summit took place on May 5, 2017, at Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin. During a full nine hour session, we welcomed 50 experimental practitioners with scent, writers, artists and perfumers to participate and listen to their peers discussing challenges and new strategies for working with scent in an experimental capacity.
This was the first summit produced for (and by) creative practitioners working with scent. Invited participants were invited share their work and discuss their issues in an open and unrestrained environment.
11:00 – INTRODUCTION: Klara Ravat & Saskia Wilson-Brown
11:10 – SCENT EXPERIENCE: Andreas Wilhelm
NEW PROJECTS, NEW IDEAS
11:45 – Ashraf Osman: Presenting scent art.net
12:05 – Ramina Puzicha: Presenting Per Se, Berlin
12:25 – Leanne Wijnsma: Presenting Smell of Data
12:45 – Daniela Gesundheit: Collaboration with Evaporation (the symbiosis of music and scent)
1:00 – ROUND TABLE: USING SCENT IN CREATIVE PRACTICE
Moderated by Klara Ravat
An open moderated conversation about the issues we face when working with scent in an experimental capacity. How can we redirect the idea of scent? How can we better use scent to tackle social problems/social change? How can we use scent to tell better stories? How can we better use scent in the context of art, technology?
Participants: Eddie Bulliqi, Andreas Wilhelm, Olivia Jezler, the group at large
SEVEN/SEVEN
Moderated by Saskia Wilson-Brown
Three participants have 7 minutes to share a new idea, ask a question or present a project to the group at large, followed by a 7 minute discussion.
2:45 – Sarah Baker: Disrupting high fashion
3:00 – Ben Chase: Imitations of Life – The Knockoff
3:15 – Hortus Apertus: New projects
SCENT + TECHNOLOGY
3:30 – Frederik Duerinck: Scent + Haptic Technologies
3:50 – Yasaman Sheri: Future Senses
4:10 – Grace Boyle + Nadjib Achaibou: Scent in the context of VR
SCENT + SOCIAL PRACTICE
4:50 – Maki Ueda: Working with scent in the public realm
5:10 – Spyros Drosopoulos: Unexpected pairings
5:30 – Claus Noppeney: Scent in anosmic settings
CLOSING TALK
5:50 – Wolfgang Georgsdorf: Olfactory Theatre – Building for Public Experience
6:30 – 7:00 – SCENT + MUSIC IMPROVISATIONS
Daniela Gesundheit + Spyros Drosopoulos
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The Experimental Scent Summit is produced yearly as an ancillary program to The Art and Olfaction Awards. More information about the awards can be found here.
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