Example Olfactory Translations and Interpretations
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68R 14turner (ds) 11/11/03 11:16 am Page 104 Olfactory Translations and Interpretations Raewyn Turner Rhythmic vibration is essentially harmonious sharing. This sharing is universally present in musical sound, colour, light and weight, patterns of plant growth, ebbs, tides and calendric rhythms, as well as our own bio- rhythms, breathing and heartbeat. (Doczy 1981) From the time of the Renaissance we have reality is constantly being woven out of every centimetre developed technologies to extend the sensory capa- of fabric at its disposal, whether that be the stuff made of bilities of the body. Believing that we will find the materialist, evidentiary objects, or the stuff made of truth about reality as we delve ever deeper into the dreams. physical matter of it, we have embraced technolo- (Grech 2002) gies to measure, see, hear and smell beyond our I believe that cultivating an awareness of feeling bodies’ capabilities. The Jupiter-orbiting spacecraft and sensation as a powerful evaluation of the has been gradually transmitting to Earth the new environment would give more awareness of our pictures and data from its flight over Io’s north minds’ construction of reality. What we are pole: experiencing and feeling in an environment would We’ve had wonderful images and other remote sensing of become as valid as the rational assumption that the volcanoes on Io before, but we’ve never caught the only what is visible, measurable, and quantifiable hot breath from one of them until now. Galileo smelled the has the power to ‘explain’ why things are the way volcano’s strong breath and survived. they seem. In a recent discussion with an eco (Frank 2001) scientist he expressed the need for a recognition of the perceptual analysis in his work: The senses have evolved to furnish reliable knowledge of the world and contribute to our per- As a scientist I evaluate the health of an environment by ception of a whole reality which is based on corre- measuring isotopes in the soil, although my perceptions spondences and woven from many fragments as are far more accurate and complex.When I enter an well as inner connections. The correspondences environment I look at the way the wind blows over the that we make are to capture and assume regularities lake, the ways the animals move, the look in their eyes, the in a changing whole, but the pattern that we space between the trees, the ways the birds fly, the smell perceive is composed from a complex entanglement of the air, the feeling of the place. of patterns. Our view of the world is shaped by memory, Thinkers like Gian Battista Vico, Henri Bergson, Claude language, culture and anticipation, and is of our Levi Strauss, and others, show how the human sense of times. While our sense of sight dominates in the 104 Performance Research 8(3), pp.104–112 © Raewyn Turner (2003) 68R 14turner (ds) 11/11/03 11:16 am Page 105 ability to understand our environment, the breath, like, reminds of ’, whilst at the same time the ‘previously associated with the life force, knowledge olfactory sense is one of the most powerful with and divinity’ (Classen 1998) carries information to regard to the retention and recall of material. us about the world. Rhythmic inhalation brings an Regarded as the sense of intuition, smell contains a abundance of smells and fragrances that prompt us whole world of uncultivated olfactory imagery and to create mind pictures around them. meaning which never has been and is not meant for the There’s scientific Knowledge and there’s human instinct perfume bottle . if our perceptions of olfaction were – our intuition, our sixth sense. For a couple of hundred expanded could we apprehend the world as a landscape years, the idea of scientific inquiry and objective truth of smell, as a spatial dimension through non-visual has been gaining strength at the expense of what we experience? know naturally. (Classen 1998) (Sherman 2002) Our knowledge through smell requires develop- BACKGROUND TO THE ment through an understanding of our cultural ‘FOUR SENSES’ CONCERT histories. We must ask: What are these smells? SERIES Olfactory Translations What do they do? How do they contribute to the In my work, I am experimenting with light, colour, way that we perceive the world and our movement sound and smell to create multisensory correspon- through it? Our sanitized western world is dences in works of orchestrated layers of smell in perfumed and deodorized with many layers of performance, audio-visual works with smell, and olfactory experiences, where a level of intuitive smell-only works. The aim is towards making a confusion is acceptable; for example, most products simulated synaesthesia where each sensory element are perfumed with artificial compounds to disguise is a translation of information about the other. their own smell. Thus our environment provides an When brought together they affect the experience arena for much experimentation with the creation each of the other, and may create a more integrated of sensory illusions of correspondence and disso- experience of a subjective, physical experience of nance. Contemplation and reflection on the sensa- sound, colour and smell that has the potential to tions and perceptions of odour and the associated transport through pleasure and joy, a multisensory mind pictures may possibly open up new ways of experience unique to each person according to the understanding and perceiving our world. A recent associations they make. I’m exploring how we know discussion with perfumer, Louise Crouch, revealed the world and each other through the ‘unities’ of that her subjective experience of smell with its the senses; of smell, colour and sound in experi- associated colours dictates the creation of her work encing the outer world; how the inner imagination in composing perfumes. She furthermore has a affects perception, at the point where the sensory consistent colour association with numbers and phenomena and the ‘conscious’ are brought letters of the alphabet that assists her memory of together. My investigations include perception, around 200–300 perfumery materials she uses to fictional translations, misinterpretation and the create odour combinations, and she uses colour as compensatory mechanisms that sight- and hearing- well as smell to formulate perfumes for the com- impaired people employ to ‘see’, ‘hear’ and feel the mercial market. world, and whether an expansion of the senses Education and cultivation of the sense of smell could be brought about through the use of a may enable us to tap into a vast world of ‘imagery’ sensory substitution to allow for a simulated and language of odours that we are not yet aware of, experience in another sense. and have no language for. We tend to speak of smell In early work with light in music, theatre in metaphors and comparisons, for example ‘smells performances (contemporary music, dance, jazz, 105 68R 14turner (ds) 11/11/03 11:16 am Page 106 orchestra) where I layered light over sound in blind/deaf, of hearing, of breathing in and of visu- Turner improvised interpretations of sound and movement alizing the world. The projects were an experiment phrases, I was not aware that my colour-to-sound with creating simulated synaesthesia and the compulsion had a long history of experimentation imaginative ‘vision’ of association triggered by by other artists. The revelation that I was not the sensory factors. It is possible that one dedicated only one to seek a creation of a simulated synesthe- sense could be used for other sensory perceptions, sia came when I was introduced to William e.g. the shape of sound, the colour of smell. Richard Moritz’s essay ‘Abstract Film and Colour Music’ Cytowic describes the condition of synaesthesia as where I found in his opening sentence what I had ‘the rare capacity to hear colors, taste shapes, or been aspiring to create for many years – reference experience other equally startling sensory blendings to rhythmic visual works to explore emotion and whose quality seems difficult for most of us to connection in sound and colour.1 imagine’ (Cytowic 1995). Working first with coloured light and music with a rock and roll band from art school, my initial THE ‘FOUR SENSES’ intention was to use the contemporary music CONCERT SERIES medium and popular culture to make a change in The 2002 ‘Four Senses’ performances, the second the way in which it was experienced, and to address series of concerts, were created in collaboration the way in which the culture of youth protest is with artist/researcher Tony Brooks (UK). They packaged and sold back to youth. For 7 years from were performed at the Dorothy Winstone Theatre, 1975, travelling in trucks and buses with road crews Auckland, New Zealand, by the Aotea Youth across USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia, I Symphony Orchestra and included mixed ability translated the loud music into the deepest saturated dance group Touch Compass, deaf signing choir colour, after-images, coloured shadows, hand- Hhands, and sight-impaired vocalist Caitlin Smith. painted optical pattern projections, stop motion, Tactile cushions and balloons were available in the UV, the darkness, monotones, optical illusions, auditorium for those with hearing disability. contrast and emotional colour sequences. The The pre-programmed light states were created music industry had funds for equipment and with a lighting plan and a PC based stage-lighting lighting technology and Split Enz,2 the band that I program to make a light resource, along with worked with, fully supported my experimentation, smell, of multiple sequences and cues available for although my work (which I regarded as art) was use in improvisation; each piece of music had its regarded mainly as an embellishment, as wallpaper.