Im Prater blüh´n …

Duftinstallation / Smellscape

“Im Prater blüh´n wieder die Bäume”, MuseumQuartier

IM PRATER BLÜH´N WIEDER DIE BÄUME, Smellscape / scent installation, 2016
(In Prater the trees are blossoming again)

A project commissioned for Wir-sind-Wien-Festival
Public Space, Vienna – in cooperation with: Kunst Haus Wien / Museum Hundertwasser, Historical Museum of Vienna, Museums Quarter Vienna, The Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art.

With „In Prater the trees are blossoming again “ Paul Divjak is focusing on the diversity of urban smell and the manipulation of our olfactory surroundings. Setting up temporary smellscapes (olfactory interventions) the artist is transferring odours of famous Vienna Prater (the Emperor´s former hunting grounds) into the very city center, and in front of several museums. The aroma of musty earth, woods, lime blossoms and lilac is to be experienced at urban locations, which usually are defined by the lack of any green.The audience is such invited into the realm of the sense of smell and to reflect everyday perceptions.

IM PRATER BLÜH´N WIEDER DIE BÄUME, Smellscape / scent installation, 2016

Mit Im Prater blüh´n wieder die Bäume thematisiert Paul Divjak die Vielfalt des urbanen Geruchsspektrums und die Manipulation unserer olfaktorischen Umwelt. Im Rahmen von temporären Duftinstallationen transferiert der Künstler Gerüche des Naherholungsgebiets Grüner Prater – die Aromen von frisch geschnittenem Gras, von Moos, Erde, Wald und Flieder – in die City. Indem er in den Dialog mit öffentlichen Räumen tritt und Geruchsbilder von „Naturlandschaft“ für Orte entwirft, an denen sie für gewöhnlich nicht auftreten, lädt er dazu ein, den Lebensraum Stadt hinsichtlich Geruchswahrnehmung zu befragen und in sinnliche Erfahrungswelten einzutauchen.

Ein Projekt im Rahmen des Wir-sind-Wien-Festivals von Basis.Kultur.Wien.
In Kooperation mit Kunst Haus Wien / Museum Hundertwasser, MQ, Wien Museum und dem Volkskundemuseum

2008Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

Trust Room

by Jeanette Müller – Muscat, Oman (SoL Global Forum)

©Jeanette Müller

For this project at the intersection of applied sociopolitical utopia and conceptual art I developed an all natural scent diffused in a huge tent, placed in front of the Hilton, Muscat.

The aim was to create an overall feel good-atmosphere, which effects calmness, strength and clarity and helps the international participants to get into a grounded and confident mood before heading to their presentations, conference panels and discussions.

Jeanette Müller / Trust Room

2019Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

Change Was Our Only Chance

by Time´s up

Setup: “Change Was Our Only Chance” by Time´s Up

For this project by the artists´collective Time´s Up Paul Divjak was invited to develop an olfactory scenographic approach and create an experimental, dystopian scentscape. The result was an irritating bouquet of a futuristic harbor breeze, defined by muddy waters, wet wooden notes, and sweet rotten Asian flowers. A subtile but smelly trip to the year 2047. [Phase 1 of an experiment / collaborative work in progress]

AIL – Angewandte Innovation Lab – Franz-Josefs-Kai 3 1010 Wien, Vienna

02.09.2019 - 27.09.2019

In these times of fundamental change, this mix of installation and process wants to make you “want for the future”. The future perspective into the present makes it clear that the future for us (humans) will only be experienced if we introduce changes today.

An possible future is sensually experienced through a physical narrative, a form of immersive environment, explored in the enveloping spatial arrangement, in the here and now, in a curious and playful process.

Possible futures fuel passion to boldly explore and popularize the complexity of our time. Possible futures are demystified and stripped of anxiety. Uncertain future scenarios are no longer terrifying, because in that future we see that people in the past had understood: “Change our our only chance.”

We look forward to working with the lecturers, researchers and students of the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Applied Innovation Laboratory AIL in this project of exhibition and discussion, workshop and exploration.

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2022Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

Diffusing Terpenes

KMH, Liechtenstein, 2022

“Diffusing Terpenes: The Effects of Forest Bathing” (Scent installation at the occasion of: “durchforsten”, KMH – küefermartishuus / Liechtenstein, 27.5 – 18.12. 2022)

Studies have shown the significant physiological effect forest atmosphere can have on humans. This circumstance has lead to the so-called trend of “forest bathing” (Shinrin Yoku). Scientists assume that the effects are achieved by breathing in the forest atmosphere, which contains various phytochemicals produced mainly by trees. So far, many terpenes prevalent in forest air have been found to have strong biological activities; their possible antiviral, antibacterial, antitumourigenic or neuroprotective effects have been demonstrated. Although research is increasingly focusing on the potential impacts, scientific data and evidence as well as the understanding of the potential and possible uses of terpenes are still lacking in many cases. — mehr —