Downwind

The pod array expresses a body of interactive and programmed robotics dressed in chinese paper lampshades to express precisely calibrated amounts of smells. Each lampshade houses a pump that expresses a mixture of air and smell molecules in a certain ratio via articulated arms controlled by servos controlled by a microprocessor programmed to correspond to ultrasonic distances. When activated the mechanism delivers a concentration of smell without leaving a residual smell, allowing the experiences and perception of difference, similarity and sequence of odiferous materials. Since 1952 when Ernest Beaux, perfumer wrote ‘The future of perfumery is in the hands of chemistry’ many novel olfactory molecules have been designed and created for the perfuming and deodorising of bodies, possessions, environment and food, as well as technological means to detect them. Olfactory molecules by nature are aerosols. Contemporary studies of biological aerosol particles, scientifically investigated since the nineteenth century, may lead to a better understanding of their role in climate and atmospheric processes and may also help to improve understanding of their impacts on humans.

According to Despre et al., 2011, efficient and reliable analytical techniques must be developed for the identification and quantification of primary biological aerosol particles, PBAPs, as well as for the determination of the abundance and diversity of PBAPs and their seasonal variation on regional and global scales (atmospheric biogeography), to anchor models in a solid empirical foundation. (i) Eschewing a nostalgic longing for the past this project enquires about the physical sensing of novel materials at a time when olfactory and gustatory perceptions of the environment, the air, cities, clothing, and the way that we perceive ourselves are being extensively altered by the natural and engineered olfactory cyphers. Further changes may also be experienced in the extra synthetic airborne particles as they undergo modifications while airborne: hygroscopic, growth, deliquescence, reactions with other acids and gases, condensation, alterations of optical properties, coagulation, and ageing. The potential to perceive the information of these new chemical technologies not just with the nose but with the gut may be realised through practicing olfactory observation, noting the feelings and emotions that arise from particular smells. In both the nose and the gut where there are also taste and olfactory receptors it is the region that gives rise to enteric knowledge or gut feeling. (ii)…More information about Downwind here  pdf download