Olfaction is the least explored sense as compared to the other senses even when making sense of an information or knowledge but it is the major part of an experience. Can we imagine food without smell? Perhaps we never paid much attention how much it constitutes as experience.
It has been long associated with deep memories and it evokes a deep emotional response. smelling the petrichor, many are reminded of the childhood memories and games. The emotional association seems to be so strong that certain scents are liked or disliked because of the associations. Smell is not just biological and psychological experience but it has social and cultural context as well. Sniff certain spices, perfume, scents and you will be reminded of a certain culture and region.
There are many aspects of the cultures which are akin to fragrances, even the most articulate of a person cannot define a scent. there is an inability in the language to define this experience, which can be understood only by experience.
This talk with the help of an interactive installation will explain the culture with its mapping it into scents and visualization. It will talk about how new identities and cultures emerge with mobility and new distinct patterns that are created, like the patterns in the kaleidoscope which are distinct as an experience in the smell. It will be a dialog between our identities as in today’s globalized world we hold more than one, articulated in smell and pattern visualization. It will also question Xenophobia and our biases, all with the help of smell. It will further let the audience experience a culture with its distinct smells and interact with it, making sense of that culture.
