Multi-sensory performance at the Éveilleur

I had the pleasure of being invited last Saturday to participate in the artistic event Emouvance Portée organized by Ikigai Prod in their new venue L'Éveilleur located in the Saint-Ruf district of Avignon (France).

This intervention consisted of introducing visitors of all ages to the evocative power of smells in connection with the works of the painter and synesthete Silgatô.

This artist had previously sent me the photos of the five paintings she was about to exhibit and which bear the names of the pieces of music from which they were inspired:

Chopin's Nocturne
I can see for miles by The Who
Fill your heart by David Bowie
Crystal ship by The Doors
A forest by The Cure

I selected thirty-five ingredients from my perfume organ that evoked me the colors and shapes of these paintings as well as the sounds of the instruments of the pieces of music. There were among others the essential oils of green vanilla, bitter orange, celery, cistus, magnolia flowers, birch, the absolutes of narcissus, hay, mate, orange flowers, algae, benzoin resinoid, etc...

On the day of the performance, I displayed on a table, not far from Silgatô's paintings, the ingredients that I randomly and blindly encouraged the visitors to smell.

Visitors were asked to express their feelings about the smell, and to verbalize what color(s) and shape(s) the smell reminded them of, and to designate an artwork or a detail of an artwork by Silgatô that the smell evoked for them. After that, I revealed to them the name of the olfactory ingredient that they had smelled.

It was an experience rich in emotions, comments and questions of all kinds, which highlighted the great evocative power of smells and the great curiosity they arouse.