sensory sculpture haya

the hambidge centre of art and science prepared its annual auction and the executive director jamie badoud asked zapah lab to develop an olfactory experience for the auction night. we had a little less than one month to come up with a multi-sensory installation. our theme was the celebration of the nature of the art residence, which gives time and space for artists, writers, composers and scientists from all over the world. we invited the artist eddie farr to be our collaborator for this installation and develop technical solutions (sensors, mounts) and a conceptual soundscape. 

above in these photos, you can see how the process went. the floating sculpture was called haya as the arabic word "life". it consists of silicone petals, the shape of which was cast from the female body, speakers with a self-made mp3 player equipped with tactile sensors, and a "squeeze me" mechanism with the abstract smell of the molecule 2,6,10-trimethylundec-9-enal. the smell of the sea breeze, with sharp cold notes and green algae, celebrated the smell of our blue planet. especially for those who will be born in outer space and will not have memories of this planet. 

the main scent was also supported by five additional five synthetic abstract molecules which we proposed to consider as ideal representatives of the scents of the ocean, jungle, and tropical plants of the future.