Olfactory Attraction and Smell Dating

Smell Dating, an interactive exhibit byTega Brain andSam LavigneatThe Glass Room.A conceptual art installation, an extended olfactory performance piece, anelaborate participatory project, or an actual smell-based dating service?Smell Dating is all of these and more!How it worksWe send you a t-shirtYou wear the shirt for three days and three nights without deodorant.You return the shirt to us in a prepaid envelope.We send you swatches of t-shirts worn by a selection of other individuals.You smell the samples and tell us who you like.If someone whose smell you like likes the smell of you too, we ' ll facilitate an exchange of contact information.The rest is up to you.My initial view of the project was based a recent showing of the interactive exhibit, where the participants could sniff small swatches of cloth, rate the unknown wearer ' s attractiveness (UNATTRACTIVE — NEUTRAL — ATTRACTIVE), learn how others voted, and see basic background information about the wearer (e.g., 30 year old female bisexual pescatarian). The first two I sniffed were odorless, but then there was #8...The art installation is part ofUseless Press, “a publishing collective that creates eclectic Internet things.” I assumed it was an elaborate joke, not an actual matchmaking service, but the artists must have had a grant to implement the idea in real life.Smell Dating @ ShanghaiIn Shanghai, people signed up over a two week period and paid ¥100 to become a “member.”Smell Dating @ Shanghai [culm...
Source: The Neurocritic - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Source Type: blogs