“Exibiting for Multiple Senses – Art and Curating for Sensory Diverse Bodies” launched in Kunstmuseum

On Sunday November 2d the book “Exhibiting for Multiple Senses”, edited by Eva Fotiadi, was launched at the Kunstmuseum

The book presents a range of fresh viewpoints on experiencing art, highlighting how engaging senses beyond just vision can enhance the overall experience for people of different abilities. During the launch event, NOSE member Caro Verbeek together with Vincent Bijlo- cabaretier, musician and writer, introduced the audience to the experience of “smound”.

Smound refers the sensory experience of convergence of scents and sounds in the brain. While Bijlo was playing boogie–woogie on the piano, Verbeek dispersed a fragrance (made by IFF) specifically created to the tune of the music into the room.

The audience was also treated to the reconstructed scentscapes Piet Mondrian’s Amsterdam and New York studios: and we were able to guess which scents belonged to what city and studio. So far for making abstract concepts “smellable”!

As highlighted in Verbeek’s chapter on working with scent in a heritage and art context in the book, it brought home how combining olfactive sensations with vision and sound can deepen the experience and appreciation of art, as well as make it more accessible to people with other abilities such as blindness.

The book can be purchased at the Kunstmuseum store or at the website of publisher Valiz here: Exhibiting for Multiple Senses

The first copies contain a bookmark with the scent of Mondrian’s Amsterdam studio (which you can also smell at Kunstmuseum Den Haag in the gallery of De Stijl)