Museum of Arts and Design Announce Chandler Burr’s “Art of Scent” Exhibit Curations – Nov 13, 2012

Photo: Courtesy of Museum of Art and Design

Chandler Burr, as many of our readers know, is the Curator for the The Art of Scent, 1889-2012,  which is the first museum exhibition dedicated to exploring the design and aesthetics of olfactory art.  Twelve pivotal fragrances, dating from 1889 to the present, were chosen  to open the exhibit  and will be on  view November 13, 2012, through January 27, 2013, at the Museum of Arts and Design. The scents will be experienced individually in a special installation designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro that emphasizes the distinct combination of artistry and chemistry entailed in their creation. The Art of Scent will be accompanied by a boxed catalogue designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro for MAD, featuring identically bottled samples of select works in the exhibition.

Aimé Guerlain

The exhibition opens with the work of Aimé Guerlain, who was among the first to introduce synthetic molecules alongside natural materials with the design of Jicky (1889). The exhibition will then lead visitors through an olfactory experience that showcases the work of the most significant scent artists of the 20th and early 21st centuries, including:

 

  • Ernest Beaux, who in 1921 used chemical compounds known as synthetic aldehydes
    in combination with a floral structure to create the first great modernist work with Chanel N˚ 5;
  • Bernard Chant, whose Aromatics Elixir (1971) was one of the great mid-twentieth century works that brought America into the forefront of perfume creation
  • Olivier Cresp, whose Angel (1992) is the paradigmatic gourmand work of the late 20th century;
  • Annie Buzantian and Alberto Morillas, who in using a carbon dioxide extraction in their influential Pleasures (1995), mainstreamed a major technological advance in the medium and altered olfactory design; and
  • Daniela Andrier, whose Untitled (2010) is an ingenious neo-brutalist work that references nature both violently and abstractly.

 

 “At MAD, we are always looking to push boundaries and question the hierarchies in art by exploring the materials and processes behind groundbreaking work,” said Holly Hotchner, the museum’s Nanette L. Laitman Director. “There has not been the exploration or recognition of olfactory art as there has been of art that stimulates the other four senses. In plain language, this exhibition is a game changer.”

 

 Presented in MAD’s second floor galleries, the exhibition will facilitate a focused olfactory experience through the near-complete removal of visual indicators, such as logos and marketing materials, encouraging visitors to concentrate exclusively on their sense of smell. The exhibition will also provide visitors with an unprecedented glimpse into the labor-intensive artistic process of creating perfume by showcasing the stages of development for one fragrance, from the initial written brief to the first iteration and through the layering and modification of scent required to reach the final desired work of olfactory art.

 

Recognizing the social aspect of selecting and experiencing perfumes, The Art of Scent will culminate in a space where visitors may converse, compare the featured works of olfactory art, and provide feedback about the exhibition. The shared responses and personal insights will become part of the exhibition’s record, underscoring that the individual experience of fragrance is the concluding factor in the works’ artistry and design.

“Much as museum visitors typically follow the trajectory of modern art and design by viewing a succession of iconic works, at MAD they will be able to explore the aesthetic evolution and creative innovations of modern and contemporary olfactory works using their sense of smell,” said exhibition curator Chandler Burr. “While these perfumes are often encountered, they are seldom acknowledged as the works of art and design that they are. My goal for this exhibition is to transform the ways in which people respond to scent artists and their art. The works presented in this exhibition are ones that have each had a profound impact on the history of this artistic medium.”

Other confirmed works of olfactory art featured in the exhibition include: Drakkar Noir (1982), by Pierre Wargnye; L’Eau d’Issey (1992), by Jacques Cavallier; cK One (1994), by Alberto Morillas and Harry Frémont; and Prada (2003), by Carlos Benaim and Clément Gavarry.

 -via press release

Michelyn Camen, Editor-in Chief

 

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION AND CREDITS

 

The Art of Scent is made possible by Founding Major Donor The Estēe Lauder Companies, and Major Donors Procter & Gamble Prestige, Chanel, Inc., Hermès Parfums, International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc., and Arcade Marketing USA. Additional support for The Art of Scent is provided by Guerlain—a Funder—and Women in Flavor and Fragrance Commerce Inc.

 

MAD CATALOGUE AND PERFUMES

 

The Art of Scent, 1889-2012, will be accompanied by a catalogue in a special coffret designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The catalogue will include an essay by Chandler Burr that discusses the artists and art historical contexts of a selection of works of olfactory art, juxtaposing them with creations in other media, from painting to architecture, and artists, from Domenico Ghirlandaio to Mies van der Rohe, Gabriel Fauré, and Pink. Burr will examine the works’ different structures and designs to illustrate how perfume has evolved from 1889. The box will also include samples of works featured in the exhibition, each contained in an identical 5ml lab bottle, free of logos and commercial packaging.

 

  

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5 comments

  • Chandler Burr sure is busy lately– and everything he is working on is so cool!

  • I would love to see this exhibit – except with Drakkar Noir in it, no one will be able to smell anything else! 🙂

  • noetic owl says:

    I have worn/smelled every scent mentioned except for Untitled. I wish I still lived in the city as this exhibition sounds like one not to be missed!