Other installations at the exhibit are equally thought-provoking. “Dialect for a New Era” is a collaboration between IFF perfumer, or “nose,” Laurent Le Guernec and linguist Asifa Majid. On 16 lighted plinths are phrases that evoke concepts such as singularity, hacking, and FOMO. Le Guernec translates the words to an original scent “signature,” which is released by pushing a button on the side of the plinth.

The phrase “a collective moment of déjà vu,” for instance, smells like birthday cake. “Perfect entanglement” smells a bit soapy. Pairing words and scent molecules is an experiment in expanding language beyond words—like a “dialect through scent,” explains Anahita Mekanik, Avant-Garden‘s producer.

“New Dialect”
“New Dialect”
Image: Courtesy of IFF

Elsewhere, in a small closet-sized room sits a curious scent-emitting sculpture by artist Sarah Meyohas called the “Erotic Engine.” Perfumer Celine Barel uses the moving sculpture to present the mechanics of sexual attraction through the various musks that animals and flowers emit. As vials move up and down, an intense ylang-ylang-based scent fills the room. Ylang-ylang, Barel explains, is a flower associated with sexual desire.

“I call it my scent Tinder,” jokes Barel who was inspired by biologist Carin Bondar’s 2016 book, Wild Sex: The Science Behind Mating in the Animal Kingdom.

In another room is “Mood Cloud” by Jean-Marc Chaillan, who worked with psychiatrist Mazda Adli to prototype a flying object that uses scents as an instrument for increasing well-being in busy cities. The “cloud”—represented by two mylar balloons in the exhibition—emits a calming “scent shower” to the most stressed-out parts of a city, based on health data collected through an app.

“Mood Cloud”
“Mood Cloud”
Image: Courtesy of IFF

Scent is an exciting and challenging media to work with. The rather sterile-looking photographs from the exhibition here—or the few on Instagram—don’t sufficiently convey Avant-Garden’s genius. But perhaps it’s a blessing that we can’t capture smells our phones (yet) or share scents on social media.

In an often-overstimulating world, taking some time to appreciate scents is an opportunity to slow down, follow one’s curiosity, and focus on subtleties. It can feel a bit daring—like willfully climbing in to Cosmic Sleep’s otherworldly cage. But our sense of smell, it turns out, can teach us how to be present and alive again.

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