Perfum Raum
Installation views at Galerie Marc Jancou
Zurich, Switzerland
1991
Soon after my exhibition at American Fine Arts Co. that employed
perfume to "frame" the paintings in the rest of the show, I produced another exhibition this time devoted entirely to the concept of scent.
Since his gallery was located in Zurich, the owner Marc Jancou and I
discussed an exhibition that dealt with the conflict between Freud and his disciple Carl Jung, over the nature of the subconscious. Jung
had stayed in a Villa outside Zurich and through Jancou I was able to gain entry. In that house I photographed different rooms in which I had "activated" perfumes. Later at the gallery those same photographs were framed and shown along side two other components, small
framed photostats that described the room, the scent and the time of duration for each perfume. Lastly, in another room of the gallery,
small plaster vitrines that held trace amounts of each actual perfume
were deployed. The gallery was thus treated as a "crime scene" or
game in which the viewers would piece together the exhibition for
themselves from the "clues" provided. In this way, I tried to replicate, in some fashion, the very discussions that took place in those rooms.
Suggesting that all "facts" are conditional, that memory is unstable,
and that the viewer is an active agent in any art work.
Original Gallery Statement
Installation views at Galerie Marc Jancou
Zurich, Switzerland
1991
Soon after my exhibition at American Fine Arts Co. that employed
perfume to "frame" the paintings in the rest of the show, I produced another exhibition this time devoted entirely to the concept of scent.
Since his gallery was located in Zurich, the owner Marc Jancou and I
discussed an exhibition that dealt with the conflict between Freud and his disciple Carl Jung, over the nature of the subconscious. Jung
had stayed in a Villa outside Zurich and through Jancou I was able to gain entry. In that house I photographed different rooms in which I had "activated" perfumes. Later at the gallery those same photographs were framed and shown along side two other components, small
framed photostats that described the room, the scent and the time of duration for each perfume. Lastly, in another room of the gallery,
small plaster vitrines that held trace amounts of each actual perfume
were deployed. The gallery was thus treated as a "crime scene" or
game in which the viewers would piece together the exhibition for
themselves from the "clues" provided. In this way, I tried to replicate, in some fashion, the very discussions that took place in those rooms.
Suggesting that all "facts" are conditional, that memory is unstable,
and that the viewer is an active agent in any art work.
Original Gallery Statement
Installation View
Parfum Raum (Zurich)
Large Perfume Room Site Photographs on right
Wall Texts on left wall
Perfume Vitrines in back room
Installation View
(Perfume Vitrines)
Installation View
(Wall text, Photos, Vitrines)
Installation View
(Wall text, Photos, Vitrines)
Perfume Vitrine
Plaster, Resin, Perfume
20" x 24" x 2.5"
Master Bedroom
Photograph
45" x 32"
Edition of 5
Photostat (Documentation of Perfume installed in Master Bedroom)
11" x 9"
Framed photostat
Edition of 5
Bathroom
Photograph
45" x 32"
Edition of 5
Photostat (Documentation of Perfume installed in Bathroom)
11" x 9"
Framed photostat
Edition of 5
Guest Bedroom
Photograph
45" x 32"
Edition of 5
Photostat (Documentation of Perfume installed in Guest Bedroom)
11" x 9"
Framed photostat
Edition of 5
Dining Room
Photograph
32" x 45"
Edition of 5
Photograph
32" x 45"
Edition of 5
Photostat (Documentation of Perfume installed in Dining Room)
11" x 9"
Framed photostat
Edition of 5
