Brian Goeltzenleuchter

Artist, writer, and educator Brian Goeltzenleuchter was born in San Diego in 1976.  Through an artistic practice that uses digital technologies to mediate the senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell, Goeltzenleuchter designs situations which explore the dynamics between individuals and the cities and institutions which shape those relationships. His current artwork considers the way in which personal and cultural narratives can be expressed through the sense of smell. He creates maps—not for way-finding, but for place-making—as a means of locating the “self” and the “other” in the city. Goeltzenleuchter’s participatory art has been critically celebrated for expanding the olfactory potential for transmedia storytelling. He earned his MFA in 2001 at UC San Diego. From 2002 - 2008 he was Associate Professor and Director of MFA Studies in Art at Central Washington University. He has held residencies at the Institute for Art and Olfaction, Los Angeles, Banff Centre, Canada, and Centrum Beeldende Kunst, The Netherlands.  He is Research Fellow at the Institute for Public and Urban Affairs, San Diego State University. He also serves on the faculty of Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine, a non-profit foundation with educational and research objectives in the field of International Translational Medicine.

Watch Brian Goeltzenleuchter’s conversation with Saskia Wilson-Brown here: Meet a Nose: Brian Goeltzenleuchter on Vimeo

Watch Brian Goeltzenleuchter’s conversation with Irena Kukric at the Olfactory Art Symposium organized by IAO and Smell it! in July 2021 here: Brian Goeltzenleuchter (with Irena Kukric) and Olfactory Art Symposium on Vimeo