Presentation: Caro Verbeek

Animal Smell

Odorama 18 - with Saskia Wilson-Brown, Peter Roessingh, Wouter Halfwerk, Frank Bloem and Philipp Kolmann

21 Sep 2017

Smell is an important sense for every animal, but the intensity and the way they smell can differ. Did you know for example that flies can smell through their feet? Whether derived from feet (call it nature) or chemically constructed, odourant molecules have the ability to profoundly affect our behaviour, emotions and associations. At Odorama we’ll actively engage with our senses and explore everything that reaches the nose. During this edition, we explore the relation between animal and human smell.

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Aroma Jockey spreading scents through a fan during Odorama. -

Odorama is a collaboration between Mediamatic and Caro Verbeek.

Saskia Wilson-Brown

Saskia Wilson-Brown is the director of the Institute for Art and Olfaction (IAO) in Los Angeles, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to exploring scent as an experimental medium. During this edition of Odorama, Saskia will give a quick olfactory overview of the major animalic materials, with samples for all to smell. She will also present a short introduction on some of the IAO's collaborative animalic experiments -- from human emissions to beaver secretions.

Peter Roessingh  

Biologist Peter Roessingh, from the University of Amsterdam, uses gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and sensory physiology to determine odour composition. In his talk, he will discuss the fascinating world of chemical communication between insects. After a short explanation of the general principles involved, a number of examples will be given that show how extremely well chemical communication can work, but also how dangerous it can be to yield to the temptation of signals that just might not be what they seem...

Wouter Halfwerk 

Biologist Wouter Halfwerk is Assistant Professor at the Vrije Universiteit in the Department of Animal Ecology. The winner of  Heineken Young Scientists Award 2016 for his research on human disruptions in animal communication. He is interested in animal communication in particular when this involves the processing of information through multiple sensory systems (multimodel communication). Wouter is going to explain the effects of different multimodal communication systems, like aromatic and visual signals, on the sexual behaviour of animals.

Philipp Kolmann

Philipp Kolmann graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2017. He investigates how animal scents relate to human identity and hygiene through the soap. In his short talk, he focuses on how we use animal sources like scents and flavours for different purposes, like food and perfume.

Frank Bloem

Frank Bloem is an artist who uses scent as his primary medium. After his graduation from Fine Arts at Rietveld academy, he started The Snifferoo, a perfume laboratory and a place for education and experiments in the realms of scent. In his short lecture, Frank will discuss ambergris, a valuable perfume ingredient, produced in a whale's digestive system. He lets the audience experience the difference between real and synthetic ambergris.

Information
Odorama: Animal Smell
Thursday 21 September
Program starts at 20:30
Mediamatic Biotoop, Dijksgracht 6, Amsterdam

Tickets: Students €5,- / Pre-sale €7,50 / Door €10,-