Research Fellow 2022/2023
During his fellowship, Aaro Murphy will dedicate his research around artificial smell production as a form of virtual space making. With a particular emphasis on the rise of synthetic aromas and digitised scenting in our cities, he aims to explore the social and political effects of olfactory space making.
Focusing specifically on the digitisation of smell through Headspace technologies Murphy speculates on the possibilities of odour as a tool for simulating architectural atmospheres.
Visiting smell laboratories, scientists and collaborating with smell manufacturers, he wishes to critically examine the processes of smell replication, deodorisation and diffusion in cities. As our urban space becomes systematically deodorised a new pasteurised architecture emerges; one with little natural smells left. Clean ubiquitous air is conditioned and coded to appear in vacuumed chambers, underground tunnels and transit hubs, while the suburb is surrounded by malodorous factories, industry and sewage. During the Fellowship Murphy’s plans on merging scientific research together with fiction to develop a new body of research involving written text and a new olfactory installation.
Visiting smell laboratories, scientists and collaborating with smell manufacturers, he wishes to critically examine the processes of smell replication, deodorisation and diffusion in cities. As our urban space becomes systematically deodorised a new pasteurised architecture emerges; one with little natural smells left. Clean ubiquitous air is conditioned and coded to appear in vacuumed chambers, underground tunnels and transit hubs, while the suburb is surrounded by malodorous factories, industry and sewage. During the Fellowship Murphy’s plans on merging scientific research together with fiction to develop a new body of research involving written text and a new olfactory installation.
