The sense of smell

An article in the Boston Globe covered an exhibition held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design titled "Ecological Urbanism" (I stumbled across this while doing research for Taze's project). One seemingly popular exhibit, known as "Talking Nose", included a display of 200 samples of air from 200 neighborhoods in Mexico City. Each bottle was labeled with responses from individuals who smelled the samples and reported their findings. The artist, Sissel Tolaas, conducted the experiment to point out how the sense of smell is traditionally disregarded from our "sensory experience" in life. When it is regarded, its typically a negative sensory of something "smelling bad." Responses to the bottled smells included: "Rusty, sweet and old" and "pleasant, aromatic, light, perfume, flowers, vanilla." When's the last time you experienced a place with simply your nose? I can't recall.




Image Source: The Boston Globe