THE ART OF SMELLING, OLFACTORY ART RESEARCH

Abstract

Peter De Cupere exhibited in Concordia, Enschede, The Netherlands from 01 December 2013 till 02 March 2014. The exhibition has been conceived as a research exposition. Visitors themselves are part of the exhibition. A high level of interactivity was expected from them.

In 'The Lab', the visitors first have to change their cloths to appear a researcher and then they can go and discover a few plants whose scent have a deceiving character, but at the same time also create a sense of truthfulness. Furthermore, one can get started with a reagent tube and herbs and the ready-made result becomes part of the exhibition.

De Cupere uses the associative power of scent and the close connection between scent and memory. When someone smells something familiar, an unconscious, non-influential process starts which recalls remembrances from the memory. By combining image with scent, De Cupere’s art becomes for each person a personal unique, meta-sensory experience which goes beyond simply seeing or smelling.

As such, the spectator will imagines a proper context to the work 'Scratch & Sniff to imagine the colours of this world'. 'Scratch & Sniff to imagine the colours of this world' is Peter De Cupere's last work. The work deals with how a scent in relation to a colour can raise a certain image and how memory is a major part of this smell experience.

Talking about remembrance, brings us to the work 'Cocoon'. Cocoon was a remake of an older work from 2000, 'My Soft World, in Honour of my Mother'.

Peter De Cupere leads you from the earthly nature to the heavenly clouds in The art of smelling. It starts low to the ground with the work 'Heaven'. Despite the reference to higher places in the name, De Cupere confronts the visitor with the scent of heaven which is very earthly to him.

Five big scent installations out of which 3 were built espescially for this exhibition, scent sculptures, scent paintings, smell devices, drawings and a video give you insight into the thinking of the artist.