A live session of aroma and sitar in the darkness of a movie theater. Mr. Daikichi Yoshida is active all over the world as a sitar player.
The live performance was almost without meeting, and we cherished the live feeling of the moment. The fragrance was created to match the scene of the sound. The sound reflects the scent, and the scent reflects the sound. The live performance was full of tension with such interactive feedback.
It started with the heavy sound of the bass sitar, and halfway through, the sound became full of the activity of the sitar. After the performance, it was revealed that Yoshida-san actually played a scene from “The Tale of the Heike” in which Benkei and Yoshitsune fight.
Contrary to our expectations that many people would fall asleep because of the darkness, everyone seemed to be awakened to a worldview they do not normally experience.
Maki Ueda started her olfactory art course Smell and Art in 2009 which is considered one of the first constructed academic course on this topic. In the course students learn a conceptual and abstract approach to the medium of smell. The use of smell goes beyond the representational use and focuses on its qualities and experience without a need for a narrative or context. The students are challenged to develop olfactory games using this approach. Furthermore, they learn chemical skills by extracting and composing smells to support their creations. The game format challenges our imagination: while we always have limited fragrance materials, we never stop thinking of new games. The Japanese traditional olfactory game Kodo is a good example of this.
“Olfactory Games” is a finalist for the 7th Art and Olfaction Sadakichi Award for Experimental Work with Scent. The Art and Olfaction Awards celebrate excellence in global independent and artisan perfumery, and experimental work with scent.
The course includes:
Kodo workshop
Smell performance workshop for blindfolded
Extraction workshop
Incense making workshop
Perfumery Basics workshop (+- 100 natural / synthetic materials, composition of the smell of rose)
Course given at: – ArtScience Interfaculty of the Royal Academy of Art and Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, The Netherlands, once a two years – IAMAS, Japan