Human Flower Project
Orrington, MAINE USA
Murrieta, CALIFORNIA USA
Princeton, MAINE USA
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Born to Smell
Inhale! An exhibit of fragrance, its psychology, physiology, and symbolic power, captivates two Americans in Paris.
The Grand Palais exhibition of scent science opened last
fall and runs through Sunday, May 3.
Photo: Alex Borden
By John and Alex Borden
Having participated in Human Flower Project’s sensory favorites survey, I felt compelled to comment on our visit to this exhibit with the partnership of daughter Alex.
This exposition at the Grand Palais in Paris is an exhibit focused on fragrances and smell. It’s an easily whiffed interactive attraction. The 90 or so available opportunities to test one’s sense of smell, with high and low opportunities for big people and little people respectively, run the gamut of foods, trash, gumballs, perfumes, spices, wines, and cognac (we are, after all, in France). The exhibit’s name, Né Pour Sentir, is translated as “Born with a sense of smell”, so this Yank could think “but tramps like us baby, we were born to smell.”