Installation views at Art Basel/Unlimited
Sponsered by
Galerie Limmer, Cologne, Germany and
Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Hamburg, Germany
33rd Basel Art Fair
Basel, Switzerland
June 12-17, 2002
One of 60 projects accepted to the Art Basel Unlimited Pavilion, Perfume Raum, was designed as an oasis of quiet in the overwhelming assault of sights and noise that is Art Basel. The designated space was in the center of the huge covered building used for one-of-a-kind single artists installations. The proposal called for the space itself to become a kind of painting, a contemplative zone, free of meaning where the room (site) becomes the canvas, perfume becomes the paint, and the viewer is allowed to complete the work. The center of the space is empty (non-site) while the outside, which is separated from the central area by floor to ceiling white scrim has numerous small deformations each filled with a different perfume. The viewer enters the empty middle, and chooses (or not) to penetrate the scrim at any point and walk along the walls (in no set pattern) encountering each scent and so builds the work themselves by the use of smell. The space is otherwise white and extremely quiet. Wall and ceiling damping and carpets kept out almost all other ambient sounds, which here was especially problematic due to the din of many of the other pieces in the pavilion which often used aggressive noise as a part of the work. i.e. continuously looping videos, or motorcycles and other "art machinery".
Sponsered by
Galerie Limmer, Cologne, Germany and
Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Hamburg, Germany
33rd Basel Art Fair
Basel, Switzerland
June 12-17, 2002
One of 60 projects accepted to the Art Basel Unlimited Pavilion, Perfume Raum, was designed as an oasis of quiet in the overwhelming assault of sights and noise that is Art Basel. The designated space was in the center of the huge covered building used for one-of-a-kind single artists installations. The proposal called for the space itself to become a kind of painting, a contemplative zone, free of meaning where the room (site) becomes the canvas, perfume becomes the paint, and the viewer is allowed to complete the work. The center of the space is empty (non-site) while the outside, which is separated from the central area by floor to ceiling white scrim has numerous small deformations each filled with a different perfume. The viewer enters the empty middle, and chooses (or not) to penetrate the scrim at any point and walk along the walls (in no set pattern) encountering each scent and so builds the work themselves by the use of smell. The space is otherwise white and extremely quiet. Wall and ceiling damping and carpets kept out almost all other ambient sounds, which here was especially problematic due to the din of many of the other pieces in the pavilion which often used aggressive noise as a part of the work. i.e. continuously looping videos, or motorcycles and other "art machinery".
Outside View Art 33rd Art Basel Art Fair
June 12-17, 2002
Art Basel Unlimited Pavilion to the right
Outside the Space
Perfume Raum ( view from outside entrance while under construction)
Perfume Raum (entrance opening day)
Perfume Raum (detail looking in to room)
Perfume Raum (detail looking out from center)
Perfume Raum Original Drawing
Perfume Raum (detail viewers behind scrim)
Perfume Raum (detail perfume deformations along right wall)
Perfume Raum (detail perfume deformations along side wall)
Perfume Raum (detail corner and back wall perfume deformations)
View from above Art Basel Unlimited 2002
Perfume Raum ( in bright white) seen in center right over shoulders of couple.