Olfactory Art and Museum Ecologies

Abstract

Chapter 3 considers the tensions between mixed-media artworks that incorporate scent and the carefully controlled atmospheres of Western art museums and galleries. After tracing the origins and rationales of museums’ climate control practices, the chapter argues that conventional museum ecologies are premised on an artificially deodorized atmosphere that renders air imperceptible as a matter of political concern. Olfactory art, by contrast, underscores the trans-corporeal exchanges between galleries and visitors’ bodies by centering the experience of inhalation. Close analysis of artworks by Boris Raux, Sean Raspet, Anicka Yi, and Peter de Cupere exemplifies how artists use scent to communicate atmospheric risks and disparities in direct and visceral terms.