Project description
Research process
I collect local colors and smells with memorabilia and materials. These will be arranged in a local color wheel. By organizing workshops with locals and tourists, I will involve them in my creation process. They try to answer the same research questions, learn the silkscreen print technique and experiment with natural colors creations. The resulting designs vary according to the context and can consist of prints, patterns and products made from local materials. The products can become new souvenirs for tourists, aiming to retain the smell of the place. As smell is directly linked to the memory part of our brain, it can work as a strong link to our experience of a place.
Colour-Smells: experiencing a place with our senses
As a city of mass tourism at is best or worst, Amsterdam attracts with its history, water, architecture, culture and laws about weed. The pandemic has made people realize that trips are not as easy and cheerful as they used to be. Especially ecological awareness about short distance flights, make people rethink their holiday destinations. New ways of exploring a place have emerged, always involving a screen and a digital experience: an online guided tour, a 3d online exhibition view. These tools are useful to avoid business trips for meetings, but as a tourist you can’t feel satisfied by watching a documentary of a place, dreaming about it and experience a 3d online tour of the Van Gogh museum for instance. A place is experienced with all our senses, the sight: closely observing an ancient stone of a house, widening the view while being at the open water of Amsterdam. Smelling the water and the algae, or maybe even indulging yourself with rotten fish smell after a market. Tasting the apeltaart and the raw haring while sipping a beer is not the same when you do it at home as when you are surrounded by locals. This project tries to connect people differently to a place by offering sensual experiences and workshops.
Possible ways to expand the project
Together with a smell expert I could dive deeper into making smelly colors which will last longer that the ones I am creating now. As I am interested in synesthesia, I would love to meet someone who can smell colors. Also I would love to research natural colors together with a chemist expert, who could help me to understand color compositions better.
Personal introduction
As a designer, I like to question and make people question the ordinary, trigger their imagination and playfulness and make them smile for a moment. I like to look into the past to understand how things are today to be able to imagine the future. My interests lie in conceptual thinking, our senses, experiences and memories, social cohesion and material experiments. I use multi-disciplinary ways in my work ranging from products, textiles, colors, illustration and jewellery.
Estimated costs
Artist fee 5000 € Material costs 5000 €
The project could happen in a time frame of around 2 months, with weekly workshops, meetings with scientific collaborators and testing and materializing new ideas.
This proposal is part of the 'Penny for your Thoughts' project 2022.
