Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening (the scent! of) Fashion @the Met

One of the first shows I went to and really remember was the Schiaparelli and Prada exhibit at the Met; my mom bought me the exhibit's hardcover and I must have read it 10 times cover to cover. I'm honestly not sure that this exhibit had the same impact for me - it was very cool to see how the curators made use of AI for the recreation of the show, and I liked the historical emphasis on the designs -- it felt very well researched.

My favorite part of this exhibit was the olfactory component. I've never seen anything like this and I feel that there is a world of potential for the inclusion of alternative sensory experiences in art. Perhaps that is how the physical art world can differentiate itself from current online experiences, as there is no way to replicate that creation of a 4d aura. The curators installed these tubular structures under certain pieces:

The interactive component was also quite interesting. I think the fact that it wasn't just a diffuser but something you had to bend down and actively sniff made it a much more fun experience.

They also had this wall of scent which was a bit less intuitive for me, but I appreciated it nevertheless:

This interactive element seems somewhat similar to the Federico Diaz LacrimAu exhibit in Shanghai, where the artist built an apparatus that would read a person's brainwaves and then release a scent which somehow complemented the visitors brain activity (?), but I guess that is much more individualized. Clara Ursitti's Self-Portrait in Scent, also seems relevant here, but was less interactive -- the artist used diffusion to infuse a room with a scent.

The scents for this show are based on Francisco Risso's Spring/Summer 24 Marni collection, in which each dress was sprayed with a particular scent:

The collection focused on the relationship between scent and memory, making the point that scent, like memory, acts as a remnant of an experience or interaction. Both linger. I like that.