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Along with all those other fragrances we’re used to in London – Victoria Park barbecues, Central line BO and central London piss on Saturday mornings – there’ll be plenty more at Somerset House this summer. It’s opening an exhibition about contemporary perfume, but a few more untoward scents have also been promised.
Laboratoire Kleber © Givaudan.
‘Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent’ will showcase the work of ten contemporary perfumers, who all challenge traditional ideas about fragrances, whether it be the gender divide, or that scents have to smell, well, nice. David Seth Moltz’s ‘El Cosmico’, for example, replicates the scent of a small town in Texas, while Lyn Harris’s ‘Charcoal’ conjures the interior of a fire-lit Scottish bothy in bottled form. And for amorous types out there, there’ll be ‘Sécretions Magnifiques’ by Antoine Lie, which is said to encapsulate ‘the pinnacle of sexual pleasure’ by combining the scents of sweat, saliva and – you got it – spunk. That’s right. Jizz-scented perfume is a real, actual thing.
Alongside all these curious smells, there’ll also be a working laboratory in the gallery where you can see the art and science that goes into perfume-making. Sounds like there’ll be lots to see, or rather, sniff. Maybe take a clothes peg as a precaution.
‘Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent’ is on display at Somerset House from Jun 21-Sep 17.
In other art news, you can watch this guy get his head smashed to bits in a virtual reality art installation.