An Olfactory Biopolitics
How smell is a powerful tool in design and behavioural economics allowing for unique and serendipitous design interventions.
Hosted byThis project is now archived and was part of DDW20
This project is part of
Graduation Show - Social Design
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Graduation Show - Social Design
Smell samples taken in Kenya
Coltrane McDowell
The design interventions took place in my home town of Nairobi. I worked with alcohol distillers in the lower-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
Smell Samples Taken in Kenya
Coltrane McDowell
Still from Documentary on the Tambuzi Rose Farm
Coltrane McDowell
Clement Goffi, Mathare Community Member Distiller
Coltrane McDowell
Smell Samples Used in Sensory Reconstruction
