Scents of Conditions – Peter de Cupere

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art, bench, blog, design, experience, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, innovation, marketing, multi-sensory, perfume, perfumer, perfumery, Peter De Cupere, scent, smell

‘Scents of Conditions’ are a serie of three different scented smoke benches realised by Peter de Cupere in 2017.

Through a series of delicate mechanisms created by the artist, each of these three benches envelopes the unsuspecting visitor that takes a seat with the scent of a particular condition accompanied by smoke.

The first bench, made of wood, gives off the scent of unadulterated nature comprised of notes of grass, wood and flowers. This is inspired by De Cupere’s nostalgia of a time when one could easily access a far less polluted nature than what those inhabiting urban spaces typically experience nowadays.

The second bench – made from stone – exhausts fumes of industrial pollution. This bench presents a stark juxtaposition to the delicate setting of a Venetian garden, stirring an immediate reaction to an urgent matter.

The final bench is white and surrounds the unsuspecting visitor in a cloud of smell commonly associated with human bodies that have only recently lost life. The scent of death is precisely created for its emotional potency and the profound effect it has on those present.

This video shows Peter on one of the benches:

It’s amazing how productive one person can be! There are so many projects from Peter that are relevant for the smell art scene!

Yours, Fran

 

Largest flower in the world – a scented moment

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Amorphophallus, Belgium, blog, Botanic Garden Meise, flower, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, insects, perfume, Peter De Cupere, pollination, scent

Peter de Cupere wrote about his trip to the Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium, and i wanted to share his story! He went to smell the Amorphophallus, which typically requires at least 7 years before it blooms. He says that it’s an amazing strong scent, not so pleasant 😉 Here some more background info of the fascinating flower.

Amorphophallus (phallos, “penis”, referring to the shape of the prominent spadix), is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family, native to Asia, Africa, Australia and various oceanic islands. A few species are edible as “famine foods” after careful preparation to remove irritating chemicals.

Once the spathe opens, pollination must happen the same day. In many species, the inflorescence emits a scent of decaying flesh in order to attract insects, though a number of species give off a pleasant odor.

Through a number of ingenious insect traps, pollinating insects are kept inside the spathe to deposit pollen on the female flowers, which stay receptive for only one day, while the male flowers are still closed.

These open the next day, but by then the female flowers are no longer receptive and so self-pollination is avoided. The male flowers shower the trapped insects with pollen. Once the insects escape, they can then pollinate another flower.

You can see a time lapse here:

There are so many fascinating flowers out there! Let’s keep our eyes open! Yours, Fran

Odorama and other smelly stories !?!

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Amsterdam, art, blog, Caro Verbeek, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, Marit Mihklepp, Mediamatic, Odorama, olfactory, perfume, Peter De Cupere, scent

Last week i attended a smelly evening organized by Mediamatic Amsterdam. Odorama is a new program by Mediamatic in collaboration with Caro Verbeek, an art historian who is especially interested in the sense of smell. Odorama concerns everything that reaches and effects the nose. The program will explore olfactory art and design that is experimental and challenging, sometimes known and sometimes unknown.

Speakers of that evening: Peter de Cupere, Caro Verbeek, Marit Mihklepp

A very inspirational concept with interesting people in a cool atmosphere!

Next event to come (and join)! Yours, Fran

Eau de Cocoa – edible perfume

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air mask, Belgium, blog, BOON, Cocoa 5 Senses, Eau de Cocoa, edible perfume, EdT, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, Inge Lijnen, Jan Kempeneers, Jenever Museum, Patrick Mertens, perfume, Peter De Cupere, scent, The Chocolate Experience

Peter de Cupere together with Jan Kempeneers of the Jenever Museum and BOON, the Chocolate Experience, have been working on the perfect composition for an ‘Eau de Cocoa‘: A fragrance that can be sprayed  on the skin as an edible perfume. After pre-selecting the best cocoa ingredients, many testings via extractions and distillations and plenty smelling/ tasting sessions, there was finally Cocoa 5 Senses, consisting of pure natural ingredients.

Eau de Cocao has an alcohol percentage of 20% in order to ensure a stable shelf life for several months. The name “Cocoa 5 Senses” comes from the fact that this perfume touches all our 5 human senses.  

Obviously, the belgian artist took the chocolate topic due to the well-known delicious Belgian fine chocolate tradition.

On top of the perfume, there is also a Cocoa 5 Air Mask created: a purifying mask with chocolate filters, demonstrating that we can also breath nice stuff instead of air pollution.

You can order the Eau de Cocoa here. Costs: 69€ per bottle.

Great artisanal hand-made perfume idea! Let’s have a sniff.

Yours, Fran

The Smell of War – Exhibition

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art, Belgium, blog, exhibition, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, perfume, Peter De Cupere, Poperinge, scent, The Smell of War, war

Short before closing, i made it finally to the wonderful exhibition called “The smell of War” in Belgium. 

The Smell of War shed light on the first gas attacks in World War I and deals with the fascinating phenomenon of odour as a transmitter of emotions.  It therefore goes beyond the usual museum experience being based on primarily visual art.

Heroes also die – Peter de Cupere

International artists from the present day demonstrate that scent can really be context and/ or concept of the work. Scents evoke memories, emotions and associations, but let the beholder also re-think and reflect about the context of the work.

The main focus of the exhibition lies on the olfactory artworks about gas attacks and chemical wars, as well as on the not-smelling aspect by protection of gas masks.

War Flower 1 – Peter de Cupere

Its worth the trip for sure!!! Yours, Fran

 

Peter de Cupere is doing it again…!!!

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12th Biennial of Havana, blog, Cuba, flower, fragrance, Franziska Josteit, In-Imitable, perfume, Peter De Cupere, scent, Scent Engineering, The Smell of a Stranger

For the 12th Biennial of Havana, the well-known artist Peter de Cupere created the work ‘The Smell of a Stranger’… And this work could well be the most discussed show of the Biennial. It is an olfactory work, but also an ultra innovative technological research about the future of our planet. Additionally it also has a political statement: namely a small jest towards the opening of the Cuban borders towards the United States.

Through ‘Scent Engineering’ the artist changes the scent of 9 local Cuban plants and flowers. Peter chose especially this work to present in Cuba because Cuba still has a beautiful immaculate wildlife. Two years ago, he went together with Curator Sara Alonso Gómez, Bruno Devos and an aroma specialist of the Cuban army on a scouting trip into the forest to discover new scents.

When one bends over to smell a flower, one usually expects to experience a pretty flowery bouquet scent. But this is not how Peter saw it!!! Because what you actually get are smells that conjure images of dead animals, sperm, inescapable smoke or putrid trash heaps…

That is exactly why he wants to make a statement with the work ‘The Smell of a Stranger’ to make the Cubans think about their future now that the borders with the United States have opened up.

Greetings from Rome! Yours, Fran

The Smell of War – Exhibition

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art, castle De Lovie, exhibition, fragrance, In-Imitable, perfume, Peter De Cupere, scent, Sissel Tolaa, The Olfactory, The Smell Of Wa

The exhibition ‘The Smell Of War’ will take place from 1.5 – 31.8.2015 and is basically divided into two parts. The main part is the exhibition with works by international olfactory artists, who use smell as medium of the artwork. A second part consists of the use of gas masks as the subject of the artwork.

Peter De Cupere is the curator of “The Smell of War”. He challenges an international cast of artists to immerse castle De Lovie, a castle in Poperinge, Belgium, in a palette of smells. The context of the exhibition is the first gas offensive in 1915 and the impact of that chemical warfare.

“You automatically think of the smell of gas, but also fear, sweat, disease and death, hygiene situations, gunpowder, the musty and damp smell of the bunkers, the smell of danger, … but to me also smell as memory. Smell affects olfactory memories strongly. With smells you can invoke conscious or unconscious specific reactions in the visitors. It is the perfect way to summon intuitive memories of the First World War too.” (Peter De Cupere).

Peter de Cupere

Why this location? The castle domain was used as headquarters for the French and British army units during the First World War. Today, it serves as  a centre for adolescents and adults with a mental handicap.

In 2014 Peter realised ‘The Olfactory’, a non-profit travelling exhibition concept . With The Olfactory he realized 33 (one-day) exhibitions in 7 weeks in a container to research and promote olfactory art. The Smell of War will be his first bigger exhibition with ‘The Olfactory’. 

Participating artists: Peter De Cupere (Belgium), Oswaldo Macia (Great Britain), Clara Ursitti (Canada), Maki Ueda (Japan), Sissel Tolaas (Norway), Christophe Laudamiel (France), Gayil Nalls (US), Hilda Kozari, Alex Schweder, Hagen Betzwieser (Germany).

Let’s gooooo!!!

Being in the cloud… a wish that we all have!

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art, blog, Enschede, fragrance, fresh air, In-Imitable, Peter De Cupere, scent, smelling installation, SMOKE CLOUD, The Art of Smelling

I already wrote about the Belgian artist Peter De Cupere, who is well-known for his smelling art installations.

Another project of his is the SMOKE CLOUD. The idea behind this smelling installation is that people tend to like being in a cloud.

But then instead of fresh air (which you would expect), you smelled smoke and pollution once you were up in the cloud.
Visitors could actually step up the ladder and have a live sniff.

Nice visitor pictures were made, which created a big viral buzz!

The exhibition took place in Enschede, NL, in a solo-exhibition called: The Art of Smelling, Olfactory Art Research, Jan – March 2014

Merry X-Mas again. Yours, Franziska

Sense of Smell Congress – impressions

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48-hour-SWEATSHOP, blog, Breda, congress, In-Imitable, MOTI, perfume, Peter De Cupere, scent, Sense of smell

The 2nd of December was an interesting day for a scent blogger like me… I was invited to come to the Sense of Smell congress in Breda. Initially it all started when some guys came up with the wonderful idea to organise a so-called 48-hour-SWEATSHOP… My first question was “What the hell is a Sweatshop?”

I was explained that a bunch of creative thinkers (some from the fragrance industry, some teachers, industry lovers, students etc.) were invited to a 48-hour-non-stop-workshop, which obviously involves a lot of sweat due to exhausted brain cells 😉

This sweatshop took place in october 2013. During this 48 hours lots and lots of ideas around the topic scent were created. Out of the box ideas. Some made sense, some less *smile*

One year later the best of those ideas were selected and exposed in the MOTI – Museum Of The Image – in Breda. 5 guestspeakers talked about their point of view/ experiences with scent. Finally we were given a wonderful book that contains all these inspirational ideas. Without a doubt: it will be my bible for the next weeks!

As mentioned already, i have met Peter de Cupere, a Belgian artist, who is famous for his smelling art installations.

Peter de Cupere & me

I look much bigger 😉 It`s my jumper & the picture is also stretched, obviously!!!

Smelly art installation that made visitors cry…

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art, blog, Breda, fragrance, In-Imitable, installation, Peter De Cupere, PTDB - Tree Virus, scent, scented tears, Sense of smell, smelling

Last week i attended the SENSE OF SMELL congress in Breda, Netherlands. It was a very interesting day, mostly because of the people I got to know!
And as if destiny wanted it like this, the person next to me right at the openings speech was Peter de Cupere… Peter is a Belgian artist, who is well-known for his great smelling art installations.

He has a huge amount of projects that are worth checking out, but for now i would like to tell you about the scented tears project.

Peter De Cupere created a smell-installation called ‘PTDB – Tree Virus’. PTDB stands for Pepper(mint) Tree Dublicate Balls. The installation was presented in a hemisphere, where you can go through. The PTDB-Tree Virus exists of one big peppermint ball, which has a dimension of ø 150 cm. On this peppermint ball grows an old tree, infected with a virus. But its not just an old tree on a peppermint ball… but, most importantly, the room made you cry…

Background: Peter incorporated an intense fragrance of peppermint in combination with black pepper. The smell is so intense that visitors started to cry due to the scent reaction. The idea behind this project is a reflection about half-parasites. Peter says: “The half-parasite needs photosynthese of the sun to survive. The installation also needs the heat of the sun to make the molecules react with each other.”

The exhibition is quite a while ago, but i still wanted to inspire you 😉

I hope you have a great weekend, without tears!!! Yours, Franziska