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Text by Sissel Tolaas
and Formafantasma
.'\ few lll 1Jnl.h s :l,L;ll . 1, 1: lï 11:il ly h:1d 1.hc ch: 1111:r: t.o IH111.~(:d l.111·1:1.ll'orl111:1::rnd cl isplay cornp]cx smells
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1n p1;1·su n, s l11°: vw1s :1Il vvr: c,pc1:U:d hiw 1.o hr: :mcl
11Hn·1:. Like:1wi ld :md in telligcnl.:mirn :d.s he knows
t.h:it. Wi : s hm1 lrl t.r·ust :dl rn11· sen ses . and pa1·t.ir:t1
l;irl y srncll. Lo unrl e r:s t.~nd t.hn complcxity nr thr.
wol'ld in whi ch wc live . Wit.h a background in chcm·
istry. li ngu istics and t.h e vis ual arts . sin cc th e
lmlüs Si ssc l has rkveloped a r:umplex and coher-
cnt. budy ofwork thatfocu ses on smeUasa means
t.o ch all1:11ge or facilitat.e the way we look at and
in t.erpr·et. out' living environment.
Formafantasma HeUo. Sissel. It's great to talk to
you aga in afterwe finallymet inAustraliaandat
yo u I' lab in Berlin. We're taUdng now because we'd
l ike to get to know your work better, specifically
yo ur world ·s oceans smell project. l'm veryinter-
ested in understandinghowyou plan to use smeU
as a way of recording a specific situation, possibly
also maldng the fragility of specific ecosysterns
und ersta ndable to people.
Sissel Toolas The Ocean SmellScape 2016_2050
( OSS) is coUecting and sampling smell molecules
from the oceans, representing the present state
of the oceans beyond what we already know. This
datais a collection ofreal-time references that
can be used to understand issues in and around
the oceans besicles the way they look or sound. The
goal of collecting the smell molecules is to preserve
olfactory information from and about the differ-
ent invisible levels of the oceans - i.e. culture, bi -
odiversity, ecology, history, geography, society
and language - in light oftheir imminent disap-
pearance from their locations of origin. We are
building up a smell molecule archive for the pro-
tection and conservation of the oceans. It offers
a new way to explore and experience living data
about the environment. The smell recordings are
reaHime data that will become a living smell ob-
servatory, Severa! of the same sites will be analysed
and smell recordings made periodicaliy to track
changes and the current state of the ocean. The
outcomes are new types of emotional artefacts,
demanding user involvement. The arch ives will
76
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;i ml indi vidual smell 1nokcules in cuntext with
t.:1basr:s. Thcyvv ill b1 : us r,cl foeexh ibitions, ecluca-
1.ion :111d conl'erenccs, furc xample.
FF How rlo you think s mell r:an hclp us ga in a better
urnlL:rsLandingol·r:ompl ex topics, in thiscaseabout
Lh r. ecology or s peci fir: localit ies?
ST Smells arc a crucialcnmponcnti 11 unclerstand-
ing oul'environment. Smell molecules areemitted
from the oceans and their su1·rouncling areas all
the Lime. The replicated ocean smells are decon-
textnalised so that hum an nnderstanwng is acti-
vated by using the nase. Smells trigger memory
and emotion qnicker than any other sense. Chal-
lenging people to use their nases gives them new
methods and means to understand and approach
different serious tapies that involve the oceans.
There is a playful aspect about discovering the
world through smells. Experiencing and learning
in a context of joy is something that bas very much
disappeared from the serions world with all its
serions issues, We're barn with anamazing piece
of hardware, caUed the body, and it uses at least
five main bits of software or systems: the senses.
We can only grasp the world by grabbing it in a
concrete way, and this is whywe're equipped with
senses. Among the sense organs, the nose is the
one that is most neglected. For generations we
have been relating to srnells primarily through
commercial ads. This bas to change. And through
my work and activities, it is changing. I think in
the future we will need new tools and new ways to
understand and communicate serions issues. The
senses could be key here, as these tools don't cost
any money except for a few changes to school cur-
riculums.
FF At the moment you 're working as an archivist
collecting smells of the ocean. How do you think
this archive could be applied? Oris it too early to
say?
ST True, the Ocean Smel!Archive 2017 _2050 is
just starting, but some data has already been pre-
sented in difforent contexts. The archive also
con tains interviews with local people. We'recon-
necting to localocean research institutionssur:h
as the Onivel'sit.y of Qtrnenslancl Heron Island
Research Station at the end ul'the Great Barrier
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1,h ings l'e lal.1: l.o cach 1J Lh1 :r i 11 ;11 1 ct.:us,1,,·: ,, 111·.
r 1.h ink you ca n use s mel I as a vvay ni r.01uicciin"
a il 1,hcsc clnLs. '
ST Absulutc:] y. The11 yo u get in to l11caJ peu plt;'s
relation s hip wit h the ocean , an rl hnw t. hey l rc~ i
t.he ocean . Your culLUre, background , socia l or-
gan isa tion a nd linguistics are issues that inter-
estecl me. How do you speak abou t the ocean and
your relations hip with it? Huw do you r:are for
yourocean? How do you care for the species ccin ·
nected to the ocean? And what a bout beaches::i AJI
this has a big effect on biodive rs ity in I hose par-
ticular r egio ns. This is n't only about the ocean·
it's about the people and nature close to t heocean'.
They're just as important . One of the biggest
illnesses of our time is disembodiment. ln the past,
in order to survive and understand nature, our
ancestors had to be in constant touch ll'ith their
bodies and their senses. They wouldn't have sur-
vived otherwise. Nowadays, in st ead . inr: reasing
attention is being paid to screens and vv hat is
going on somewhere else atsom e otlw ,, time, We
need to reconnect to our bodies and our senses to
be able to explore these complex connect ions. It
cannot only be understood on a meta level. Using
aU our senses to understand corn pl ex issues is the
only way to move forwarcL
Sissel Tolaas (Norway, 1965) artist and researcher.
Since 1990, he r work has been actively focused on
the topic of smell. ln 2004 Tolaas estoblished the
Smell Re _searchlab Berl in.
Studio Formafantasma wos founded in
Amsterdam in 2009 by Andrea Tri mmchi and
Simone Farresin.
Pagi ne pr ecede nti· olcune /os,1
ciel carn piona rnento digitnle
nell'Ocean o Atl antico (poglna 73
e 74) e Pac1fico (pagi na 75), 2018
111 queste pag ine e o pnginn 73:
dettag li del labor ctto 11 0 di Sis sel
Tolaas c, Bn lino
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