Smell Lab

The Smell Lab is an event open for everybody who is interested in experimenting around the sense of smell. Smell Lab was initiated in May 2015 as a community under the community program of Spektrum art science community (http://spektrumberlin/communities.html). Co-founded by the olfactory artist Klara Ravat

[smelllab-blog]

https://www.smell-lab.org/

[smelllab-blog]

https://www.smell-lab.org/

[smelllab-blog]

https://www.smell-lab.org/

[email protected]

[smelllab-blog]

We’ve moved to

https://www.smell-lab.org/

[smelllab-blog]

New Adventures

Dear friends & colleagues,

It is with heavy heart that I must share with you my decision to leave the smell lab community Spektrum Berlin.

It is hard to believe that 2 years ago I founded and started this wonderful project with a bunch of enthusiasm and passion. I have loved curating and organizing many of the meet ups and projects such as collected smells, connected smells, and the fabulous last community showcase, the Smell Games night.

I would like to thank Spektrum and my former colleagues for the time and space we shared and I wish them all the best with the future of the lab.

Now, it is time for a new adventure! I am heading off to begin my next chapter! Lots of new scented projects and collaborations are warm in the oven!  Such as the Aroma Lab, in collaboration with Mediamatic, and the Experimental Scent Summit, in collaboration with The Institute for Art and Olfaction.

I will continue with my independent Smell Lab (olfactory) activities like workshops, talks, presentations and exhibitions.

I am open and looking forward to new sensory and scented collaborations & collaborators!

Let’s keep in touch and maybe we work together in a near future?

Best regards,

Klara Ravat

[email protected]

[smelllab-blog]

Vorspiel Transmediale Smell Lab Community Showcase 

16 Feb 2017, 19:30, Spektrum Berlin Come by with a playful mood and we will discover how fun-loving smells can be! Be prepared to experience and be immersed in scented games which are engaging and challenging and also work as potential brain enhancers. Expirience our four different installations, taking game shape, on the following topics: memory, storytelling, match&play and many more (more info coming soon). Games are structured ways for playing but also they help you avoid your sense of smell impairment: remember how our sense of smell plays a strong and powerful role in our daily life. Training your cognitive abilities will maintain your mind healthy and so will your nose! Come over and test or observe with us our experimental game installations! Looking forward to meet you!

Klara Ravat

Organized by Klara Ravat in cooperation with Spektrum. With support by the Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten / Spartenübergreifende Förderung künstlerischer und kultureller Projekte.

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab #15

22 / November / 2016

Talk by Dr. Roberto I. Melendez.

He gave a lecture on the Role of the Olfactory System in Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Formation. 

“The last decade has seen an impressive accumulation of imaging data about the dynamic nature of neurons, the primary cells of the human brain. One unique feature is the ability of neurons to change their strength, function, and structure in response to certain types of environmental stimuli. This process is referred to as synaptic or neuronal plasticity, which plays a major role in the formation of memories, and the sensation/perception of smells. In this lecture, Dr. Melendez will discuss the basic neurobiological changes occurring in the olfactory system in response to novel stimuli, and their relationship with memory and cognitive processes. The overall goal is to provide a basic platform about synaptic plasticity and the olfactory human experience.”

Dr. Roberto I. Melendez joined us from the Caribbean island of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Psychology and a Ph.D. degree in Psychobiology with postdoctoral training in Neuroscience. Dr. Melendez is the principal investigator of a prestigious grant awarded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. His research laboratory is currently focused on the molecular basis of synaptic plasticity during adolescent brain development, a period of heightened capacity for learning, memory, and creativity.

Guest invited by Chaveli Sifre.

Organized by Klara Ravat in cooperation with Spektrum. With support by the Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten / Spartenübergreifende Förderung künstlerischer und kultureller Projekte.

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab #14

11 / October / 2016

Session dedicated to the design students of the university of Postdam.

The students showed the projects they were bussy with during their introduction week at the school and also took part of a sound & smell experiment by Klara Ravat.

Organized by Klara Ravat in cooperation with Spektrum. With support by the Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten / Spartenübergreifende Förderung künstlerischer und kultureller Projekte.

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab #13

During the Smell Lab #13 Ramina Puzhicha made an introduction to her project per se and DIALOGUES.

The evening started with a short meditation in order to prepare our senses, we where then ready to Smell and experience Ramina’s creams. These creams are super detailed compositions about the 4 elements present in nature: earth, water, fire and air.

Her formulations were specially produced to be used together with a sound piece by the artists Tatsumi Ryusui.

She ask us to write down our associations when applying the creams to our skin.

Results extracted from her blog:

#1 – dark blue/green, dense forest, overgrown garden, late summer in an abandoned town

#2 – purple/lilac, fresh/cold, winter garden, sleepy, night, snow

#3 – rotten fruit, dark, soil, geraniums, grandmothers garden, daylight

#4 – birthday cake, warm, cofee, cream, pink, exuberance, orange

Thank you so much Ramina for the lovely and deep experience you brought to the Smel Lab!

Klara Ravat

Organized by Klara Ravat in cooperation with Spektrum. With support by the Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten / Spartenübergreifende Förderung künstlerischer und kultureller Projekte.

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab #11

19 July 2016—

In this edition of the Smell Lab public meetup, we had two presentations.

The first was by Christian Rauch, director of the State Festival, who shared documentation from the State of Time festival in 2014, and invited Smell Lab to contribute for their 2016 edition, State of Emotion, a proposal well-received by those present.

For the second, Smell Lab-er Dimitri Cacouris presented a survey of olfactory technologies past and present, for the edification of both long-standing attendees of the ‘Lab’ and the passing curious, and to open the possibility of incorporating things like electronic noses, microencapsulation, and headspace technology into our future work.

We enjoyed the attendance of several unfamiliar faces, who we hope to see again at subsequent meetups!

Post by Dimmitri Cacouris

Organized by Klara Ravat in cooperation with Spektrum. With support by the Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten / Spartenübergreifende Förderung künstlerischer und kultureller Projekte.

[smelllab-blog]

Connected Smells show video documentation!

[andrewunstorf-deactivated202209]

Für die taz war ich mit Michelle bei der Geruchs-Performance Connected Smells vom Smell Lab im Holz Kohle Koks in der Reuterstraße in Neukölln. Spannendes Projekt! Die Treffen sind offen, Infos hier:

http://spektrumberlin.de/communities/smell-lab/past-events.html

CONNECTED SMELLS is a live installation and a public distillation of substances and materials connected to memories. The sense of smell is often cited for its ability to elicit highly individualized associations and memories. Smell and memory are, however, social senses, mediating our interactions with others and acting as a repository for collective experience. With this experiment we want to bring the connected nature of smell forward, providing you with the chance of contributing to a smell that is composed through contributions of many people’s memories. To participate, merely bring a small amount (anything smaller than the palm of your hand) of substance or material that reminds you of someone in your own life. It can be a dollop of honey, an old sock, a collection of herbs, shards of a plate, a handful of candies - anything that connects you to that person. http://smelllab.tumblr.com/

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab #9

Organized by Klara Ravat in cooperation with Spektrum. With support by the Senatskanzlei - Kulturelle Angelegenheiten / Spartenübergreifende Förderung künstlerischer und kultureller Projekte.

[smelllab-blog]

17th June // 19:30 - 23:30 // Holz Kohlen Koks // Berlin

CONNECTED SMELLS is a live installation and a public distillation of substances and materials connected to memories. The sense of smell is often cited for its ability to elicit highly individualized associations and memories. Smell and memory are, however, social senses, mediating our interactions with others and acting as a repository for collective experience. With this experiment we want to bring the connected nature of smell forward, providing you with the chance of contributing to a smell that is composed through contributions of many people’s memories. To participate, merely bring a small amount (anything smaller than the palm of your hand) of substance or material that reminds you of someone in your own life. It can be a dollop of honey, an old sock, a collection of herbs, shards of a plate, a handful of candies - anything that connects you to that person. With your contribution, you will receive a vial of the distilled smell! We hope you can help us make it happen! ***Please be reminded that metals and plastics may not be accepted, and that the material will be boiled and therefore cannot be returned.

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab at SHD

Last Wednesday, 27 of April, the Smell Lab visited the Science Hack day meet up. The Smell Lab gave a presentation on what do we do in our community and Lucy Patterson from the SHD shared some smell related projects.

[smelllab-blog]

Smell Lab #8

April 2016. 

What an overload of a session! We hosted a divers and amazing guests. Starting with the experiment on Synesthesia by Dimitri Cacouris. Dimitri presented 3 different scented mixes to be matched with a picture, a color and an emotion. While Dimitri checked out the results and correlations of the experiment Rikard Jönsson presented the application him and his colleague have been working on, Bourgeon. Bourgeon is an interactive data base for perfumes. You can find out the ingredients of your favorite perfume and find matches, so to say, which other perfumes might have similar components.

Also, I gave a presentation on my olfactory art work: I spoke shortly about my pieces Synthesis, Petrichor, Pixel Jungle and smellSCAPES.

All of this with the TV walking around and interviewing us.

Klara Ravat

[smelllab-blog]

Last January we participated in the Spektrum’s  Vorspiel Transmediale program. Check out our video documentation on our first community project, Collected Smells!

Filmed by Moritz Metzer and edited by Mareike Bode.