Proposal

Brief:

“The Olfactive Experience” is an exhibit based on smell. It is about how people associate themselves with different smells on a conscious or subconscious level.  These smells are not just pleasant like perfume, they can be mundane or rare. This experience will be translated in the form of recording and will be archived.

Present Olfactive scenario:

Smell is relatively untapped medium. Sense of smell is also difficult to decode because it is precognitive and emotional. We often ignore olfactive input except for certain instance when it acts as warning for danger. We do that because we have not been educated enough in a language with which to express any perceived gradations. Thus, our olfactive vocabulary is  limited to broad terms like good, bad, ugh, and sweet.

History has helped smell’s downfall, too. With the Enlightenment Era came a certain rationalization of our senses, where knowledge, culture, class, and intelligence were associated directly with our visual senses, whereas smell was associated with bodily fluids, dirt, and poverty. We seem to still be shaped by that dichotomy and we therefore miss out on one of our great cognitive gifts.

In one way, scent is already being used widely as a design element. Manufacturers seem to be reaching a tipping point of awareness that scent is important in creating a total “brand experience.” For example, casinos, hotels, private clubs, new automobiles are often designed with signature scents. Smell is a matter of training. The more you smell - the more you smell. Ramping up the smell of things is a good way to engage people more fully in the present. It’s interesting to look at the ways in which we have engineered scent out of our lives, and when we do try to reinsert it, it is in gaudy, obnoxious, or un-subtle ways.

Goal:

The goal of this exhibit is to archive the experience of the consumers. This can be resource for designers (product, interface, architects, fashion etc) to understand consumers olfactory associations. Later people can browse through other’s experience, share and comment.

This exhibit has two important components.

1) Kiosk

2) Website.

Kiosk will be placed in the exhibit. It will act as a primary interactive component that will collect consumers audio visual recordings based on smell. The website will be a secondary component which will be an archive where people can browse through or check their own experience.

Location: 

This exhibit will be held in Museum of Modern Art. (MoMA)

Target Audience:

People visiting MoMA, design students, Established designers etc from all over the world. This is an experimental and experiential design project. It will be an olfactive experience for visitors and then direct them to the online archive where they can browse.

Conclusion:

The idea behind this exhibit is to show a potential in smell as communicative medium. The audio recording of consumers, exposed to the smell would be an immediate and honest response. Thus giving others an insight to their conscious or subconscious association. This is a part of a larger picture which would explore the olfactive vocabulary. This vocabulary will not be about coining terms literally like we have in our dictionary but based on associations that people make when they smell something. These associations will be filtered and categorized.