inhale athens
Every time I step out of the airport after not being in Athens over a long period of time I am greeted by the warm smell of the city,
whatever the season, whatever the time of day.
A smell that is neither nice nor bad, neither new nor old, neither prospering nor declining.
A smell that is like an old friend that is still exactly where you left him, as you left him.
A smell that is felt like an everlasting existing pattern, an impression, an opinion, a suggestion of presence.
This odour-installation is a little mental journey to Athens, to the contemporary city and to the eternal idea.
A subjective interpretation of the smell of one of the oldest cities in Europe.... to pass through the visitors' body and to be taken with him, even if it's for a very short period of time.
A short video in a cardboard-box shows the symbol of the city, the eminent Acropolis, from a different viewing point - it's like the Athenians see it daily, somewhere on the horizon: a piece of rock that has always been there and will always be there. A piece of marble that looks over the city and that probably watches the Athenians with more interest, than the citizens of this capital are showing in it.
This short visual journey is boxed in a simple cardboard found on one of the streets of Athens.
whatever the season, whatever the time of day.
A smell that is neither nice nor bad, neither new nor old, neither prospering nor declining.
A smell that is like an old friend that is still exactly where you left him, as you left him.
A smell that is felt like an everlasting existing pattern, an impression, an opinion, a suggestion of presence.
This odour-installation is a little mental journey to Athens, to the contemporary city and to the eternal idea.
A subjective interpretation of the smell of one of the oldest cities in Europe.... to pass through the visitors' body and to be taken with him, even if it's for a very short period of time.
A short video in a cardboard-box shows the symbol of the city, the eminent Acropolis, from a different viewing point - it's like the Athenians see it daily, somewhere on the horizon: a piece of rock that has always been there and will always be there. A piece of marble that looks over the city and that probably watches the Athenians with more interest, than the citizens of this capital are showing in it.
This short visual journey is boxed in a simple cardboard found on one of the streets of Athens.
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The actual installation of the odour piece shown in Besançon, at ISBA during the Eidos exhibition in March 2014, fills the whole frame, while in the left corner a smaller frame shows some of the ingredients that were diffused as a smell concoction in the dark, scented, silent and almost empty room.
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The video shown in the installation's small cardboard box - (here with sound). |
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