A sensory experience in Dubai
Scent critic Chandler Burr attempts to prove that scents too are works of art
With a background in international economics and Japanese political economy, world renowned scent critic Chandler Burr’s understanding of perfumes includes intricate molecular movements and fragments of the nature that bring together the world’s most famous scents.
A journalist and author of the highly acclaimed book The Emperor of Scent, Burr was the first scent critic at the New York Times.
In collaboration with Perfumery & Co and Art Emaar, Burr has curated and designed the Art of Scent Exhibition to mark the launch of Perfumery & Co in The Dubai Mall.
Exploring fragrances from around the globe with creations by Thierry Wasser, Christophe Laudamiel, and Patricia de Nicolai, Burr has hand-picked 11 works of scent art from collections in Perfumery & Co and exhibited them through a pathway amid elongated sand tubes.
“My visual idea was to contextualise this in the form of a journey. Because of all the years I lived in Japan, the bridges and the pathways inspired me to have a route. In collaboration with the team at Art Emaar, we decided to showcase it in the form of a desert in the UAE,” says Burr.
“Inspired by Japanese architecture, the level of sand in the tubes signify the rise and fall of the dunes we see in the desert. We wanted [visitors] to be able to see through and sense it as a forest, except it’s contextualised in the desert,” added Burr.
SCENT AS AN ART “Making scent is an art and understanding the materials are a major art medium,” Burr explains.
For an individual who’s been in an unusual profession for the longest
time, Burr’s understanding of scents and aroma are sometimes unfathomable to laypersons.
“Scent is a very clear art medium. It’s a medium that has aesthetics and design structure; it demands of the artist exactly the same thing that the other mediums of art such as painting, music and writing. do”
If you think being a scent critic might be a cake-walk, think again. According to Burr, in order to be a critic of visual art it’s important to learn the aesthetics and execution of the particular medium.
“You can learn about what came before, and what is here today, and what might arise in the future. I think it is very important to remember, every single work of art is conversation with every other work of art — those in the past, or in other mediums or styles. Everything is building from what was there, arguing against it, arguing for it.”
CURATING ‘THE ART OF SCENT’
Burr’s past work also includes a scent exhibition curated by him at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, which chose 12 artists’ scents from 1889 to 2012, each representing various concepts of romanticism, modernism and realism.
On being approached by Perfumery & Co to curate a similar exhibition, he wanted to merge the essence of Middle Eastern culture and contemporary art.
“I went through the brands and chose 11 works, which I thought were of particular interest. I focused on the aesthetics and the design which spoke differently about the scent. I chose some because they are truly representative of local perfumes. There are three brands from the Middle East which are very unusual from the regions scent culture. These 11 are also works of realism, surrealism, and minimalism,” Burr says.
In the eyes of Burr, each of the 11 perfumes is just as important as the other. “There’s none that is more important, by definition. As a lover of art I may have a favourite but as a curator we don’t choose. In this exhibition it’s not about what I like or don’t like. It’s only about what I think is aesthetically important, finding a work that is structurally so well done and whose design stands out,” says Burr.
While the industry may have rapidly grown commercially, the concept of critiquing perfumes is still on the path of developing.
“I think that we [perfume industry] are just beginning as compared to any other art. ”
“Scent is a very clear art medium. It’s a medium that has aesthetics and design structure.” CHANDLER BURR | Scent critic