Unsound

Bringing together scent and sound, Ephemera is an installation that presents olfactory compositions based on musical resonances and reverberations. The nose behind the project is Berlin-based Geza Schoen, known for the groundbreaking Escentric Molecules series as well as various avant-garde/conceptual scents.

Three musicians — Ben Frost, Tim Hecker, and Steve Goodman (aka Kode9) — created sonic raw material which Schoen then reinterpreted to create three different scents: Noise, Drone, and Bass, respectively. Schoen’s scents were then used to guide the development of further sounds to fit an installation-style environment.

Ephemera’s visual component is an evolving pattern created by London-based Manuel Sepulveda (Optigram) and Berlin-based video artist Marcel Weber (MFO); it includes both video and silk-screened materials that reveal different elements as the light shifts.

Different days will feature the various sounds and scents, as follows:

Tuesday April 1st – Bass

Wednesday April 2nd – Drone

Thursday April 3rd – Noise

Friday April 4th – Bass

Saturday April 5th – Drone

Sunday April 6th – Noise

After its launch at Audio Visual Arts, Ephemera will travel to other cities, where it will be developed further, including an installation at Unsound Krakow in October, 2014. Ephemera will also take the form of a bottled perfume series created by Unsound, which will launched later in 2014. This will include the various sounds and scents.

Ephemera is curated by Małgorzata Płysa and Mat Schulz from Unsound.

Thanks to the Rolex Institute for their support of this project. We would also like to thank Geza Schoen, Ben Frost, Tim Hecker, Steve Goodman, Marcel Weber (MFO), Manuel Sepulveda (Optigram), and Air Aroma.

Unsound Festival New York is presented by Fundacja Tone and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York.