Related Events (free and open to the public)

September 1st (4-8 pm): Opening Reception 

September 11th (3pm): Neighborhood Smell Walk with the artist (click here to register)

September 16 (1pm): Meet a Nose Artist Talk on Zoom with the Institute for Art and Olfaction (click here to register) 

September 18 (2-4pm): Meet the Artist and draw with smell crayons at the gallery

October 2nd (2pm & 4pm): Neighborhood Smell Walk with the artist (click here to register) 

October 2 (4-8 pm): Closing Reception 

watch the artist discuss the exhibition with Saskia Wilson-Brown from the Institute for Art and Olfaction

Suspensio: An Interruption in Time

September 1st to October 2nd, 2021

Olfactory Art Keller is honored to present Suspensio: An Interruption in Time, an olfactory and sculptural installation by Josely Carvalho, a Rio de Janeiro and New York City based multisensory artist. Suspensio is the next series of her Diary of Smells, which presents olfaction alongside the visual art that has prevailed in her body of work. Reflecting on Suspensio, the artist writes: 

 “We are living in a moment of political, environmental, health, and social crisis. The pandemic interrupted the rhythms of daily life, placing us all in a state of suspension. The risk of an invisible virus, political unrest, environmental disasters and racial injustice in both of my countries, the United States and Brazil, led me to find refuge in my garden. I watched wild birds come to eat from the bushes and fly in the open air. I focused on the contours of the tree branches, smelled fresh green after the rain, and sniffed the fermented scent of lantana flowers near my window”.

Suspensio: An Interruption in Time was conceived of and created during this period. As one enters the gallery, one is enveloped in a deep blue light and encounters four smells inserted into blown glass branches, claws, and empty nests surrounded by dried vines and hanging in the air. The smells, Burrow, Incense II, Emptiness, and Suspension, encapsulated in crystal beads, were created by the artist in collaboration with Leandro Petit of Givaudan do Brasil. Burrow is an animalic scent, made of dark notes that transport us inside the protective nest of the earth. Incense II calls to mind the freshness of forests and tree resin. Emptiness interprets the discomfort of feeling displaced in space and time. Suspension is the duality of being cocooned while facing danger and risk. In the world of Suspensio, there is a meditative tranquility amidst uncertainty and fear. 

Throughout the exhibit there will be multiple events open to the public, including three site-specific “Smell Walks” with the artist, where the public is invited to link odor to memory and place by using their nose as a guide to the gallery’s surrounding neighborhood of Chinatown. Visitors to the gallery will also be able to participate in Carvalho’s ongoing Smell Flasks installation. Having started in 2012, today the installation is an archive of over 2,500 flasks, each perfume bottle containing a visual representation of a smell. 

The virtual catalog for the exhibit will be available here starting September 1st.