Scents of Us
An installation that visualizes the invisible world of scent. As a cloud of scent reaches your nose, a cloud of color bursts on the screen and mixes with your body's own.
- Year
- 2024
- Medium
- LED wall, motion capture, microcontrollers, analog diffusers, fragrance materials
- Role
- Concept, experience design, creative direction
- Team
- Scentience: Vince Picone, M Dougherty, Adnan Aga, Una Zhang, Shuang Cai
- Award
- Innovation Award, NYC Media Lab and CHANEL Virtual Synesthesia Challenge
About the work
In response to NYC Media Lab and CHANEL's Virtual Synesthesia Challenge, a team of creative technologists came together around one question. How can scent and synesthesia tell a story in bold new ways?
Visitors enter a room that holds a large LED wall and four pillars. Each pillar carries an analog diffuser filled with one of four molecules found both in human body odor and in plants, connecting the body to the plant world. Driven by motion capture, the screen acts as a mirror to the room.
As you approach the pillars, a cloud of particles gathers around your reflection, and the scent of your body seems to come alive on screen. Press a diffuser and release a scent into the air, and as it reaches your nose a burst of color mixes with your own cloud.
The scents
Each pillar holds a molecule found in human body odor and in plants.
- Gamma Decalactone
- peach
- Limonene D
- citrus
- Linalool
- lavender
- Benzaldehyde
- bitter almond and cherry
Gamma decalactone is found in stone fruits like peach. Limonene D is in all citrus. Linalool is the main constituent of lavender and is found in hundreds of botanicals. Benzaldehyde is the smell of bitter almond and cherry. All four also occur in human body odor.
How it works
Four analog diffusers on stands carry pressure sensors and ESP32 microcontrollers that release precise bursts of fragrance. A ZED camera tracks participants, and TouchDesigner renders each person as a particle cloud on the LED wall. Pressing a diffuser releases the scent and, at the same moment, an explosion of colored particles that mixes with the visitor's own form. Speakers add sound.
Adnan Aga, a member of the team, is congenitally anosmic, and brought that perspective to the interaction design.
Shown at
- 2024Virtual Synesthesia Showcase, NYC Media Lab, NYU Tandon at the Yard, New York, Mar 5. Premiere, one of six teams
Press
- 2024Virtual Synesthesia Challenge, NYC Media Lab, project page
The team
Scentience met at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU Tisch. The challenge ran from November 2023 to February 2024. The Innovation Award, for the most successful idea and execution, was given at the showcase on March 5, 2024 (NYC Media Lab).
- Vince Picone, software developer and product designer
- M Dougherty, scent artist, who worked on concept, experience design and creative direction
- Adnan Aga, multimedia artist, congenitally anosmic
- Una Zhang, experience designer, who worked on concept, interaction design, fabrication and exhibition design
- Shuang Cai, curator and multimedia artist
