Antenna

(Archive) An Olfactory Biopolitics Nairobi

How smell is a powerful tool in design and behavioral economics allowing for unique and serendipitous design interventions.

This project was part of DDW 2020

Smell samples taken in Kenya — © Coltrane McDowell

Working with alcohol distillers in the low-income settlement of Mathare and rose farmers who were affected by the global pandemic, together we produced fragrance tests for the precursor of a locally fabricated perfume.

This extended research project examined how the use of smell as a means of control or behavior modification comes under the notion of biopolitics. I produced a series of videos, they each act as documentation and a meditation on the potential use of smell

Play video