During a night at the opera you would expect your sense of smell to be near, if not at, the bottom of the list for sensory stimulation. Unless of course you are unfortunate enough to be sat next to the last man in the world who swears by bathing in ‘Brut’ before a night on the town. Smell can be quite a distraction at times, often a negative one, especially in the murky world of personal hygiene…
I digress. Earlier this month, the Guggenheim premiered ‘Green Aria: A ScentOpera’ in their Peter B. Lewis Theatre. 1970’s cologne this was not. In fact, this 30 minute olfactory spectacle was two years in the making, the result of the collaboration between writer and director Stewart Matthew, composers Nico Muhly and Valgeir Sigurdsson and the French perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. Laudamiel, who has created perfumes for Clinique, Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors, produced more than 30 original scents to act as the characters in Green Aria. These scents and their accompanying music were performed to an audience sat in near darkness, each seat complete with its own ‘scent microphone’, which released meticulously coordinated ‘wafts’, and could be held close to the nose throughout the performance.
Part of the Guggenheim’s Works & Process season, Green Aria was sponsored by fashion, fragrance and design house Thierry Mugler; a bold step for the brand, considering the concept was at first met with a certain degree of cynicism from the press. Nonetheless, the ScentOpera proved a resounding success; Matthew and Laudamiel are now marketing their scent technology to hotels, movie theatres and videogame makers. Who nose (sorry, sorry) what’s in store for the future?!
