sadakichi_award – Maki Ueda

– Sea of Fragrant Cloud –

space installation (2022)

PERIOD: November 3rd (premier) – 12th, 2022
PRODUCTION: Kyoto Arashiyama Art Festival (performing arts festival)
VENUE: Riverside Ryokan Arashiyama Benkei, Kyoto Japan
SOUND: Shambala 2 / Friedrich Glorian

What if we could see scents? This question became my theme since the pandemic began. Could the invisible movement of viruses in the air be made perceptible with the help of scents? Aerosculpture is the collective name for a series of research and experiments that started with this question. This time, with the help of dry ice and smoke.

Traditionally, there is an incense culture in Japan. Incense is not only used to add a pleasurable fragrance to a space, but also has a sense of hospitality and a religious role in dispelling evil spirits. When people visit temples, they first cover their heads with smoke to purify themselves.

As a child, I simply enjoyed covering myself in smoke. It smelled slightly sweet and good, it was visible but it disappeared quickly, and I tried desperately to catch it, which was not at all possible to grasp. With this work, I tried to provide a place to play with the fragrance like a child.

As the exhibition venue was located in the heart of Arashiyama, a place of worship in the ancient capital of Kyoto, experiments were conducted to produce the ‘aroma of temple incense’ with dry ice.

Experimental music by musician Friederich Glorian’s Tibetan gongs added depth to the time axes. In this way, the composition of time (sound) and space (fragrance) proved that scent can also be a performing art.

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Technical production: visit my blog:
https://olfactoryart.blogspot.com/search/label/%5BAEROSCULPTURE%5D

– What if coronaviruses were something you could smell and see? –

space installation (2021)

“VIRAL PARFUM” is the winner for the Art and Olfaction Sadakichi Award 2022 for Experimental Work with Scent!

Excerpt from http://www.artandolfactionawards.org/2022awards/2022-winners/

SADAKICHI AWARD FOR EXPERIMENTAL WORK WITH SCENT WINNER!

Viral Parfum by Maki Ueda
Perfumer: Maki Ueda

The Art and Olfaction Awards celebrate excellence in global independent and artisan perfumery, and experimental work with scent.

Viral Parfum is an installation which uses six scent accords to represent the different mutations of the Coronavirus. Invisible except under blacklight, together the accords create the scent of white lily: a fragrance to mourn and honor the deaths caused by the novel coronavirus. Maki Ueda is an olfactory artist based in southern Japan.
Learn more at ueda.nl.

Also, read the Artforum article: https://www.artforum.com/diary/eva-diaz-at-the-world-perfumery-congress-88792

VIMEO – artist explaining about the work: https://vimeo.com/573515602

DATE: May 7th (premier) – August 29th, 2021,
CONTEXT: Smell It! Exhibition
VENUE/PRODUCER: Städtische Galerie Bremen (Germany)
CURATOR: Ingmar Lähnemann

Concept:

Since the appearance of the new coronavirus, we try to avoid airborne viruses by ventilating the air, meeting people in places where droplets cannot reach us, wearing masks to protect ourselves, and washing off viruses that may have gotten on our hands. In order to learn more about the virus we have been trying to see and visualise the invisible viruses, often in laboratory settings.

I came to the idea that the way this virus spreads has similarities to the way scents spread. Scents also spread in the air, so I often pay attention to air convection and ventilation, I also wear a mask when working with strong fragrances, and when handling fragrances, I change my gloves frequently to prevent the scent from spreading to other bottles.

Here are some of the similarities that scents and coronaviruses share:
– They are both too small to be seen.
– They spread through the air.
– They are spread by adhesion
– They disappear over time.

In this exhibition, I use scents to represent the different mutations of the virus. Visitors may spray the “viral parfum” anywhere they like in the room. Other visitors can detect and recognise the scents to find out where the virus is attached. The virus is invisible under normal light, but is occasionally illuminated by using a black light.

There are six different types of viruses here, including mutations. Each of them has a different fragrance, and when combined, they create the scent of white lily. It is a fragrance to mourn and honour the deaths caused by the novel coronavirus.

NO.1: Skyblue : Ylang ylang oil, Hidroxycitronellal
NO.2: Green : Citronellol, Ionone alpha, Iso Eugenol
NO.3: Yellow : Ylang ylang oil
NO.4: Blue : Nerol, Geraniol, Paracresyl Phenyl Acetate
NO.5: White : Linalool, Vanillin, Phenyl Acet Ataldehyde
NO.6: Orange: Neroli Base (original composition)