Ever cried in front of art?
Has a particular work inspired you? Moved you to tears? – Like me recently in a Miranda July show in Milan, but that is another story ;). Have you felt such a deep and instant connection with a work that you kept returning to it, wanted your friends to see it too, saved up all your money to own it? Is there art out there that really touches your soul? And how does that work? Why do certain works move us so?
The Heidi Horten Collection in Vienna is showing LIGHT SOUND SENSES from 20 September 2024 – 23 March 2025. And we decided to talk to the experts and find out, using examples from this show. Our beloved Gallery Girl London aka Lizzy Vartanian is reporting as the art historian and the wonderful Melisza Neckel a Capetonian in Vienna is covering for us as a Psychotherapist.
We will cover all 5 senses in the coming months and urge you to go see the show if you can, tune into the works described, see what your own senses tell you about the show, the work and yourself.
Sense One: Scent
Lena Henke “Memory of a Young Sculpture X”
When someone asks you what smell you associate with horses, you don’t automatically think of art, fetish or sexuality. Yet Lena Henke’s site-specific scent-stallation Memory of a Young Sculpture X has a horsey focal point, incorporating a leather mask and other fetishistic paraphernalia to draw our attention to relationships between groom, master and intimacy.
Henke was inspired by the history of the Heidi Horten Collection’s museum grounds, which was once a winter riding school. In response, Henke uses the aroma of leather and its supposed wearer to engage visitors’ senses around the quasi-romantic bond between horse and owner.
While the words “scent” and “art history” don’t normally appear together, Henke is not the first to combine the two. Aroma has long been a part of classical art. Perhaps the most obvious smelly paintings come from the Pre-Raphaelite period (1849-1854). As well as painting gorgeous dreamy women, the group often included fresh flowers and fruits in their works. One prime example is George Frederic Watts’ portrait “Choosing” of Ellen Terry sniffing a rose from 1864. Truly, nothing says “scent” more than pulling a flower to your nostrils.
In other pre-raph works, the female figure clutches a freshly cut pomegranate (Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Proserpine from 1874) or brushes her hair amongst a sea of white roses (Rossetti’s Lady Lillith from 1866) with what looks like a luxurious bottle of perfume in the background.
Other whiffy works of note from art history include Dutch flower paintings. These still lives of gorgeous bouquets against dark backdrops scream perfume. Each flower has its own meaning, symbolizing everything from wealth to vanity. However the overall message of these paintings is that life is fragile, reminding us to live in the moment and make the most of what comes our way. These paintings often foreground the freshest, most luxurious flowers, while wilted sad petals falls to the bottom of the frame.
Scent has been present in art pretty continuously. In 2013, perfume won recognition as an art form in its own right. New York’s Museum of Art and Design held an exhibition called “The Art of the Scent”, celebrating fragrance as an artistic medium by exhibiting 12 iconic perfumes in a museum setting. Later in 2019, the Louvre even collaborated with France’s famed Officine Universelle Buly to commission France’s top perfumers to create scents inspired by their collection. Meanwhile, in 2021 the Netherlands’ Mauritshuis Museum curated an exhibition called “Smell the Art: Fleeting-Scents in Colour.” The show paired each artwork with relevant nasal experiences including a polluted canal, a linen cupboard and myrrh. In their show, the Mauritshuis reminded its viewers that smell isn’t always sweet smelling florals, it can also be unappetising too.
So, it seems art and aroma actually have a veeeeery long history. With the advancements of technology, you’re bound to be smelling more whiffy artworks sooner rather than later.
Where to start?
Our senses play such a vital role in our experience and perception of the world, which in turn impacts our brain and psyche. This all starts with a smell being detected, then the olfactory neurons in the upper part of the nose generate an impulse that is sent to the brain along the olfactory nerve. The first part of the brain this arrives at, is called the olfactory bulb which processes the signal and then passes the information about the smell to other areas closely connected to it. This is collectively known as the limbic system. The limbic system consists of a set of structures within the brain that are essential in affecting and controlling mood, memory, behavior and emotion. These sets of structures were present within the brains of the very first mammals and are considered as the primitive and or old part of the brain. This gives us great insight into the reasons smell plays such an important role in memory, mood and emotion. The perfume industry is built around this connection. Research has also shown that our body odor, which is produced by our genes that make up our immune system, can play a huge role in attraction and subconsciously choosing our partners.
The sense of smell is the most closely connected to memory. Much of our emotional response to smell is governed by association, which is made obvious by the fact that different people can have completely different perceptions of the same smell. This can be more deeply associated with those who associate a smell with a certain person, trauma or powerful moment of their life.
Although there are certain smells that we all find alarming because they warn us of danger such as smoke, or rotten food.
Helga Griffiths – “Migratory Sense” 2017
Griffiths art deeply explores human perception, extending beyond the visual to also engage the sense of smell. The installation Migratory Sense was created in collaboration with Syrian refugee Muhammad Aszizi and perfumer Karl-Heinz Bork, Aszizi’s memories of his homeland near Damascus are translated into scents. These scents can be experienced by smelling a metal sphere, symbolizing the loss of places and familiar smells that accompanies migration. Through this installation, Griffith seeks to build a cultural bridge and allow for her audience to better understand the emotional aspects of the refugee experience.
I was fortunate enough to visit the exhibition in Vienna and Griffiths work in regards to smell really stood out to me from a psychological perspective. Therapy is about someone bravely sharing their experiences and stories. As a systemic psychotherapist, we are attuned to the experience of space. When entering the space of this installation, your eye moves towards the markings on the walls, immediately acknowledging a journey has been taken. As explained, scent can have powerful effects on memory, mood and emotion.
This installation evoked curiosity, sadness and heaviness. It could be described as witnessing a story. A story of migration, change and loss. From a psychological perspective, this installation allows for a therapeutic setting. The experience of moving towards the metal sphere and smelling the scent created by Karl-Heinz Bork. The smell creates a picture in your mind, for me it was fields and change of environment. Leaving the space, there is a sense of feeling like someone trusted you with their story.
Introduction by Anna Maja Spiess. First Paragraph by Lizzy Vartanian. Second Paragraph by Melisza Neckel.
The exhibition featuring the works by Griffiths and Henke is LIGHT SOUND SENSES at the Heidi Horten Collection, Vienna. 20 September 2024 – 23 March 2025
Helga Griffiths Website & Lena Henkes Website.
EVENT ALERT: planning your Vienna trip? Have it coincide with the special event the Heidi Horten Collection is hosting a journey through all the sense with Alexandra Silocea (piano), Chazz Del-Logen Cooks (dance) and Yogesh (scent) on November 11th, 2024.
