Tzenkoff

For this project, artist Sissel Tolaas firstly acknowledged the inherent human instinct to, unwittingly, produce a particular smell when in a state of fear.

Turning this notion upon its head, however, she resolved to produce a series of fifteen fragrance which collectively suggested an aroma of fearlessness, thereby emboldening those using them.

So, to be faced with one, two, or three… right up to fifteen people, would, in this instance, produce no feeling of fear.

Smells generally incur the most basic of verbal reactions and descriptions from those falling within their range.

Subverting the honest, yet highly-simplistic, vocabulary of the two most obligatory appraisals – ‘I don’t like it!’ or, ‘I like it!’ – Tolaas duly created and named a scent which wittily referenced this inability to profoundly articulate our responses.

With a scent named HSIDEWS, Tolaas sought inspiration from all manner of Sweden’s iconic subject matter and ephemera which, in one sense, is obvious and clichéd, and yet was hitherto overlooked in terms of serious artistic exploration.

For example, the smell of heightened banality emanating from the flat-packed world of Ikea; the aroma of piled-high and cheaply-sold clothing, and the identikit interiors, typifying branches of H&M around the world; the specific odours found within a well-used Volvo car.

What becomes clear, herein, is Tolaas’ unique ability to make us re-appraise – and indeed re-smell – the seemingly-familiar with a new sense of curiosity and invigoration.