Olfactory Art and Navigation
Project PIONEER (seasons 01 + 02) was conceived as a sensory-based tool to be used in conjunction with Walking Libraries 2016–2019. I commissioned Beau Rhee’s Brooklyn-based studio, Atelier de Geste, to design a seasonal scent kit that might be utilized in open spaces to facilitate centeredness and navigational clarity in relation to atmospheric and environmental events.
‘This scent commission, PIONEER, is designed for both personal use (for an artist) and to be nestled within an artist’s creative practice. Responding to Abigail Doan’s personal history and her involvement in environmental activism, the scent is created in two seasons (winter / summer) or iterations. Due to her extensive practice of walking as an art form, the key notes in both scents evoke ecological cues of particular spaces that inform her future strategies of interfacing with the environment. They are two very distinct scents in dialogue, attributes of the seasons, that also propel the audience into a type of motion forward, echoing the artist’s practice.’
— Beau Rhee, artist/designer and director of Atelier de Geste
[ The above excerpt is from Atelier de Geste’s project archives, with mood board created by Beau Rhee during our 2016/17 dialogues.]
Project PIONEER currently remains in my archives as a tool for future installation projects and design dialogues.
