Under the Horizon
Under the Horizon (2011-19)
sculpture Olfactory-acoustic
The Art and Olfaction Awards Winner 2018
'Under the Horizon' is an olfactory-acoustic sculpture that creates a space for thought. My work uses the scent of smell to make people stop and think in order to raise questions in new ways.
sculpture Olfactory-acoustic
The Art and Olfaction Awards Winner 2018
'Under the Horizon' is an olfactory-acoustic sculpture that creates a space for thought. My work uses the scent of smell to make people stop and think in order to raise questions in new ways.
For me, the olfactory is an essential sculptural medium: what we perceive through our noses has no verbal language, it reaches straight to intuition. When we cannot reduce senses to words and over-worn platitudes we find a new vocabulary for thinking about the world.
The smell composition of 'Under the Horizon' draws from the scent of organisms growing under the earth - specifically carrots, an everyday foodstuff that receives little special attention. Encountering these familiar notes without a visual index evokes an uncomfortable feeling as we need to engage our minds. For example, it is difficult to name the smell of carrot seed without seeing a carrot. Smell reaches the olfactory sensory neurons through two pathways. The first route is via the nostrils, and the second is through a channel connecting the roof of the throat to the nose - chewing food will release aromas that access the olfactory sensory neurons using this channel.
From a visual perspective, 'Under the Horizon' employs sculptural conventions and narrative expectations. A plinth elevates a bath to eye level where the taps are constantly running unchecked, filling the tub with a black liquid holding this scent of 'Under'. These scents and this scenario are accompanied by an ‘Under sound’ the sounds of cloth being stitched by machines, mixed with the sound of artificial rain. These recordings were made by the artist in a large Bulgarian factory, manufacturing military uniforms for different wars on our planet.
From a visual perspective, 'Under the Horizon' employs sculptural conventions and narrative expectations. A plinth elevates a bath to eye level where the taps are constantly running unchecked, filling the tub with a black liquid holding this scent of 'Under'. These scents and this scenario are accompanied by an ‘Under sound’ the sounds of cloth being stitched by machines, mixed with the sound of artificial rain. These recordings were made by the artist in a large Bulgarian factory, manufacturing military uniforms for different wars on our planet.
Presented at:
Oswaldo Maciá: Geopolitics of Nature, espaivisor - Visor Gallery, Valencia, Spain (29 March - 24 May 2019)
Equations at Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno (CAAM)
San Antonio Abad, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2017)
Rohkunstbau XVIII at Schloss Marquardt, Berlin, Germany (2011)
San Antonio Abad, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2017)
Rohkunstbau XVIII at Schloss Marquardt, Berlin, Germany (2011)