Welcome to the olfactory inkblot:

Limited Edition Interactive Experiential Olfactory Works

An Engaging Hybrid of Art & Science

ABOUT THE OLFACTORY INKBLOT SERIES

The olfactory inkblots are limited edition multiples, a series of interactive experiential works and events that asks the user to explore olfactory perception and their psychophysical response to natural smells. As interactive artworks, participants are asked to re-engage with the natural scents carried in the olfactory inkblot objects, and to answer a survey about their experience, thereby generating new information, which in turn becomes part of the artwork. The goal is to provide both a reflective and meditative experience for the user as well as to investigate and advance a broader understanding of olfactic perception.

Each olfactory inkblot experience—which will comprise various media—will be structured on the theme of the existing relationship between contemporary art and science. The series takes its name from the Rorschach inkblot psychological tests first used in the early 1920s, which were a visual diagnostic method for patients undergoing psychoanalysis to map their individual psyches. Similarly, the olfactory inkblot series draws attention to one’s unique response to scents, as olfaction too can be used to assess and understand personal characteristics and emotions.

Even though we continually navigate our lives using our sense of smell, our comprehension of this profound sense is inadequate. Our world is saturated with aromas—some beautiful, others offensive—which are all part of a meticulous chemical notation system for which our noses carry receptors. Messages received via smell move instantly to the most primal part of the brain, where the encoding of evolution, environment, and culture helps choreograph our feelings, emotions, and memories. However, the olfactory reasoning and experience that is available to us cognitively mostly goes unexplored and uninterrupted. The Olfactory Inkblot Series is a an effective vehicle for this exploration. Olfactory Inkblot_3: Olfactory Meditation is held in cultural institutions. For more information, please click on the Olfactory Meditation image.

We suggest reading the survey before experiencing your olfactory inkblot. It will help will help you pay closer attention and fully savor the olfactory experience, becoming more conscious of how we perceive, respond and interact with smells.