Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior

Temporalities of the Smellscape: Kyiv

Playing with the experience from tongue to taste, the performance presents a series of conductive ice creams that trigger various baselines and tones when licked.

From improvisation to orchestration, eater becomes performer as the primitive act of licking reaches beyond flavor perception to become an instrument for play.

Lickestra lasts until all the ice cream is licked.

“Essence in Space” is realized through an adapted keyboard that transforms sound and fragrance into a unique perfume. Each key is mechanically linked to a type of fragrance, located below the keyboard. As each key is pressed, another part is lifted up and, in so doing, air is then released into a tube. Once the air enters the tube, the lower section of the instrument releases a droplet of perfume. This droplet of perfume is then collected in a bottle. This process continues as each key is struck, thereby creating a mixture of different perfume droplets in the bottle. At the end of the ‘performance’, a unique blend of perfume droplets has been created. We can call this a ‘Symphonic Perfume’. (Most perfumes consist of one or more of scented notes)

The project can be considered a device that captures an essence of what may be termed a ‘mystic identity’. This mystic identity is produced through the transformation of sound and scent. As a form of alchemy, it speaks of the various transformative processes that all matter and form undergo.  ​

This project is developed as technological version of synesthesia and transforms music into 3D-printed sculptures (“REIFY - Music you can hear, see and hold”, n.d.). They work in collaboration with musicians in order to visualize the interpretations of their music and produce the sculptures, “totems”, which are encoded with the song, by 3D-printing. While listening the song, the totems are turned into augmented reality animation through a mobile app.

What moves us in art is actually the interaction of emotion and sensory synesthesia, which involves not only the five traditional senses, but also other non-traditional senses, from hearing, sight, touch, smell, taste, and so on. This can even be extended to balance the sense of direction, temperature, kinesthesia (the sense of the position and movement of various parts of the body), pain, and other internal senses (feelings triggered from within the body), where the boundaries of emotion become blurred.

医院噪声 – 医疗保健的感知空间 (hospitalsenses.co.uk)

sounds become ‘noise’ for a range of reasons that are not just about loudness, they are also social and emotional. Sounds can be perceived as ‘noise’ because people are scared or uncertain, or when the origin or purpose of the sounds is unclear. ‘These Sounds Save Lives’ invite us to listen to the hospital cacophony in a different way, as sounds of work and care, not just as ‘noise’.

https://sensorymaps.com/?projects=smells-of-auld-reekie

Kate McLean is an artist and designer who has been exploring the concept of sensory maps, particularly focusing on olfactory perceptions and their relationship with urban environments. Through her work, she investigates how smell contributes to our understanding of place. She leads public "smell walks" and translates the data collected into various forms such as digital design, watercolor, animation, scent diffusion, and sculpture to create smellscape mappings.

Her sensory maps capture not just the physical scents but also the emotional and cultural connections people have with these scents. For instance, one of her projects involved mapping the different smells in Edinburgh, including distinct aromas such as the malt fumes from breweries, which are a significant part of the city's character​​​​​​​​.

McLean completed her PhD on the topic "Nose-first: practices of smell walking and smellscape mapping" at the Royal College of Art. Her research links sensory perception with urban environments through sensory maps. Her work is seen as a way to challenge the ocular-centric perception of space and introduce new ways to understand and navigate experiences in urban places​​​​.

https://sensorymaps.com/?projects=hospital-corridor-smellscape

https://sensorymaps.com/?projects=odours-of-the-morning-and-the-evening-singapore

https://sensorymaps.com/?projects=temporalities-of-the-smellscape-kyiv

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