Atmospheres, Art, and Aesthetics: A Conversation

Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Elena Mancioppi

Abstract


Initially conceived as an interview with the hybrid media artist Brian Goeltzenleuchter, this text gradually took the form of a conversation on various issues regarding olfactory art and the aesthetic significance of smell. Framing the artistic uses of odours in the context of contemporary art, the paper discloses some of its foundational traits, variations, and underlying impulses. By commenting on Goeltzenleuchter’s olfactory artworks  through  a  philosophical  perspective, this  contribution  covers a number of subjects including the notion of atmosphere, the socio-cultural values and narratives conveyed by scents, the suggestive relationship between spaces and aromas, and the phenomenology  of smells as compared to the experience of sounds. Consistent with how smell perception unfolds,     the dialogue flows in a form that is not rigidly structured but airy, ephemeral, and fluid, developing       a sequence of insights whose aim is, rather than scrutinising a specific topic, to evoke the essence of olfactory poetics as a whole.

Keywords


Olfactory Art; Atmospheres; Osmospheres; Aesthetics of Smell; Contemporary Art

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References


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ESPES. The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics (ISSN 1339-1119) is published biannually by University of Presov, Slovakia and the Society for Aesthetics in Slovakia. Registration number of the journal in the Register of Periodical Publications of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic: EV173/23/EPP.

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