Experiments into scent
In mythology the Gods always smelt good

The installation title references the god Pan, who as the primordial renegade, smelt bad. His animal presence was dismissed by Rene Descartes, and our relationalship with the green environment irrevocably changed as a result of this.

The installation involves four seemingly empty glass vessels (half alembic, and half perfume bottle in style) presented on clear plinths.

The vessels contain four scent moments in King’s Wood across the seasons, and were created in collaboration with Quest International using headspace technology (a highly sophisticated device which analyses and allows synthetic replication of smells). The results of this were combined by a perfumer, Dominique Le Lievre.

Photograph opposite:Arboreal laboratory installed at Ovada, Oxford as part of the OXDox festival