Inspiration

This project grew from two main ideas.

Firstly my father hasn't been able to smell since I was very young which meant he couldn't even taste food and unless I had a bad cold I could seldom understand just how awful it must be to lose your sense of smell. It wasn't until my 21st birthday that I had a true admiration for scent, we were traveling back from a day out on holiday in the car and I began to smell and awful smell like clutch burn. The front break pad had become stuck on the wheel which wasn't immediately affecting the car (we were just losing a few revs). The smell got worse that is when flames were spotted coming out of the side of our car, we quickly pulled over and waited for the emergency services. Sitting on the grass verge waiting for the fire engine and bracing myself for an explosion (the flames were lapping at the petrol tank) it gave me time to consider things, if my father had been in the car on his own and not able to smell the fire he could have died. Then it truly struck me how important our sense of smell is and how truly neglected it is.

The second came from another experience I had whilst on placement when I went back to London to work I left a lot of very close friends back in Plymouth. However when I was commuting it was common place to smell the same aftershave worn by my friends and just by smelling it, it brought back very powerful memories of the previous summer and the friends I had left behind. I was genuinely shocked at just how potent this sense was and how truly powerful the emotions that can be evoked are.

These two very powerful instances have greatly inspired this project and my research into the field of olfaction.

Why is scent neglected?

It hasn't always been like this, during ancient times scent played an integral part in all aspects of peoples lives. It was socially regarded as acceptable to study olfaction and be respected as a scientist.
However when Charles Darwin made claims that the sense of smell was savage and animalistic the study of scent was no longer taken seriously by the scientific community with people abandoning it in favour of audio / visual research (hence why media for these sense are highly developed in comparison). As society has become more liberal and the benefits of scent related healing are being realised, people are once again studying scent and beginning to integrate it into technologies.

Brief History

Egyptian - First aroma therapists using various scented treatments to maintain healthy bodies and minds. Scent played a big role in religion

Greeks - It was used in a similar way to the Egyptians and had great religious and scientific significance.

Romans - In addition to the religious and medicinal uses of scent the romans hired family perfumers to create signature scents for the family and all the family possessions including the pets. They were also the first to mix scent in with their recreational entertainment, they would use strong herbal scents to cover up the smell of dead bodies in their coliseums.

Middle Ages - This was the period where the odour of sanctity was at it's most prominent

‘Both [Lydwine] and her cell were found to be redolent, so that those who entered thought that divers aromatic simples [herbs] had been brought in and scattered there. And this wonderful sweetness was perceived when she was visited or touched by the Saviour or by an angel, or when she returned from heaven or the regions of paradise.
(Á KEMPIS, T. trans SKULLY, V. 1912)

During this time the church had a strangle hold on the lower classes and ruled them by conjuring up fearful images of the after life, though people claiming to have visions were causing rebellion so in order to regain control the church made out that the people which were having these religious experiences were in league with the devil. This was the beginning of the decline for the importance of scent in the public domain.

Revolution (eighteenth century) - During the eighteenth century conditions became more sanitary and the olfactory landscape changed, this was helped by the surveys of Hector Gavin 1847
'Sanitary ramblings, being sketches and illustrations on Bethnal Green'
The french revolution also saw the lower class rise up against the aristocrats and scent for personal use was seen as a waste of money.
Darwin and Freud's stark views on scent condemning it as a savage and animalistic study meant that any scientist who wanted to be taken seriously had to undertake research in the audio visual fields.

Modern day - During the two world wars people couldn't afford luxuries such as personal fragrances so again scent became neglected. It wasn't until the end of the second world war when women started to refeminise themselves that perfume made a welcome return. As society's views have become more liberal and advancements in technology have occurred, we have a greater understanding of how olfaction works and it's importance in our everyday lives. A mixture of artists and scientists are now making it their mission to promote the importance of scent in society.

Media and Scent

Odourama - Immersive experiences like the London Dungeons and Disney World's Soarin' have successfully integrated scent into these attractions in order to provide the user with a more fulfilling experience.

Theatre and Films -
'The Rose Bowl Game' (1939) was the first film to use scent created by Hans Laube, cotton wads were soaked in rose oil which were then placed in front of a large fan and wafted to the audience.

'The Sea Hawk' (1940) There were scents to represent each character which were dispensed into the cinema environment. However the removal method wasn't efficient enough and the scents all began to mix with one another causing a foul distracting smell.

'The Scent of Mystery' (1960) Laube's technology lay dormant for 20 years and resurfaced in the sixties in this film. The removal technique was effective however the dispersal of scent was not efficient enough and people further away from the scent dispensers experienced a significant delay or no scent at all. The performances were disrupted by people loudly sniffing, this distracting act of sniffing and being consciously aware of the scent meant that people were not emotionally involved in the film and it was a failure.

Film producer John Walter’s film, ‘Polyester’ (1981), paid homage to the age of Odourama, utilising the new technique of scratch and sniff scents. Cinema goers were given special cards with numbered regions on them, when the number appeared on the top of the screen the audience would scratch the corresponding number on their cards. However the conscious act of scratching these cards distracted the audiences attention from the film breaking the illusion that was trying to be created.

Artistic Projects Promoting Scent

‘Air’ produced by Hilda Kozari, is described as an ‘Urban Olfactory Installation’; it consists of three translucent bubbles which have videos projected into them and a perfume, which was specifically created to represent the scents of each of the three cities. Kozari has studied the effect scents have on people and their perception. This understanding of scent allowed her to create a subtle but powerful image of each city, unlocking the olfactory region of the brain provoking potent emotional responses in the viewer.

The Smart Second skin
‘The vision and research work of Dr Jenny Tillotson has the potential to provide breakthrough progress in the development of the whole fragrance industry. The application of nanotechnology, microprocessors and biosensors to fragrance development, linked with new insight into the power of fragrance and fragrance ingredients to affect personal well being, have the potential to change the whole way we appreciate and apply fragrances in the future’
(AYRES, J. 2006)

Odour of Sanctity - Constance Classen

This essay discusses the power of scent in relation to religious experiences. The odour of sanctity is the scent which is said to be emitted by saints and people of great religious significance, also it can occur when an angel is present. This is what lead me to consider angels within my project, the experiences these people had were so emotionally powerful which made me curious about the effect scent could have on people.

This is just a very brief guideline to show you the areas I have studied whilst undertaking my project, I go into great contextual depth in my paper 'Scent is the most emotionally powerful sense a human has, so why has it been neglected for so long in the development of new media technologies?' Which can be downloaded here