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Dessine moi un arc-en-ciel

2015
scents, fragrance diffuser

Project website: www.dessine-moi-un-arc-en-ciel.com

About

Dessine moi un arc-en-ciel is an olfactory installation commissioned by the Museum Louis Braille, that invites visitors to explore the concept of color beyond its visual dimension. Much more than a simple visual attribute, colors carry in them a vast universe of symbols and mental associations acquired over time. Culture, religion, language along with personal sensory experiences and memories are all elements that affect our perception of colors as concepts and allow us to give them meaning.

 

The artist collaborated with seven visually impaired participants and several perfumer from Givaudan to create the scent of each of the seven colors of the rainbow. Thru multiple interviews, each participant engaged in an internal exploration of the universe of a given color: imagining its texture, temperature, taste, smell; sharing with Kosmatopoulos key words and personal stories that were then used by the perfumer to turned the words into odors. 

 

The title refers to the famous phrase repeated over and over by the little Prince in the book of Saint Exupéry, "please...draw me a sheep". Like the narrator in the Little Prince, “Dessine moi un arc-en-ciel” proposes to put the colors inside "imaginary boxes".
The purpose of the project is not to create a universal smell of colors but rather to encourage viewers to engage in an internal travel in time and space through the odors that will revive olfactory memories - memories about childhood, travels, readings, dreams and loved ones... attached to their personal history – opening a dialogue freed from any visual limitation. Going through this experience, the question remains: “What colors means to me?”  


Dessine moi un arc-en-ciel was created with support from the French Ministry of Culture and communication and the Givaudan Foundation. 

Exhibition

2018     "Shape Open" curated by Yinka Shonibare MBE, Richard Hunt and David Hevey  /  the Art Pavilion  / 

             London, United Kingdom

2017    “Art at the margin” curated by Kelly Jost  /  Hunter College  / New York  /  USA

2017    "A Certain Blue of the Sea is so Blue that only Blood would be more Red" curated by Sozita Goudouna  /               Ionian Parliament  /  Corfu  /  Greece

2016    “Dessine moi un arc-en-ciel”, Multi-locations installation in collaboration with The Institute for Art and                   Olfaction and seven local galleries and cultural centers, Los Angeles, USA 

2015    “Dessine moi un arc-en-ciel”, Site-specific installation, Musée Louis Braille, Coupvray, France

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