'Smell of fear' exhibit provokes curiosity, unease, headaches

[Ian David]

'Smell of fear' exhibit provokes curiosity, unease, headaches

By Rodrique Ngowi, Associated Press Writer | December 6, 2006

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --Masahiro Sugiyama walked up to the gallery wall, gently scratched the paint and cautiously moved closer to capture the smell that many would try to avoid or mask with deodorants under normal circumstances.

A potent odor similar to that of an unwashed male armpit wafted from the wall, a scratch-and-sniff exhibit that captures the "smell of fear" as part of a show at MIT exploring how artists use modern technology in creative work.

"This is not the kind of place where you you'd want to stay for long," MIT graduate student Sugiyama, 28, said of the artwork created by Norwegian artist and researcher Sissel Tolaas.

Tolaas asked men suffering from extreme phobias of other people to collect swabs of their sweat at the time they were most afraid. She had the specimens analyzed in a device that isolates the components of scents. The artist then chemically reproduced the smell of each subject and mixed the product into wall paint.

The paint was applied on panels inside the MIT List Visual Arts Center, in nine distinct shades of white that represent each subject, to create "The FEAR of smell - the smell of FEAR" exhibit.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/06/smell_of_fear_exhibit_provokes_curiosity_unease_headaches/

[undergroundpanther]

1. Because I see myself as feline

I notice scents. I learned to smell like a cat.So I think I'd either be fascinated or would feel what the scents feel. I might even get impressions sorta psychic stuff I pick up from smells(hard to explain) It's useful like when I am in a crowd the scents tell me a virus is in the air so I move to avoid it, I probably look weird zig zagging through the crowds,led by my nose and intuition but it has not failed me.
Anyways I am very glad the artist refused to help the pentagon.
Those evil fuckers need more creative people to tell them NO, and force those psychos to put a sock in their fucking control fetishes,warmongering and domination fantasies and grow up..Kudos for the smell of fear artist for hear fearlessness!!!