Smell Dating (2016)
Video excerot, ‘Smell Dating, Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne, 2016.
Video, ‘Smell Dating, Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne, 2016
Smell Dating is the world’s first smell based dating service that invites people to find new connections using only their noses.
Smell is one of the most poignant and evocative experiences afforded by the human sensory apparatus and much can be gleaned from a potential mate’s smell. There is a growing body of research that suggests a person's gender, age, and predisposition to illness may be detected from their "smell signature.” Some researchers even speculate that high contemporary divorce rates may be related to the overuse of deodorants and the underuse of our natural olfactory intelligence. Smell Dating invites participants to trust their olfactory intuition and choose dates based on ancient molecular cues.
The work is performed as a participatory dating service and has also been realized as a gallery installation.
Smell is one of the most poignant and evocative experiences afforded by the human sensory apparatus and much can be gleaned from a potential mate’s smell. There is a growing body of research that suggests a person's gender, age, and predisposition to illness may be detected from their "smell signature.” Some researchers even speculate that high contemporary divorce rates may be related to the overuse of deodorants and the underuse of our natural olfactory intelligence. Smell Dating invites participants to trust their olfactory intuition and choose dates based on ancient molecular cues.
The work is performed as a participatory dating service and has also been realized as a gallery installation.
Exhibition view, ‘Smell Dating,’ New York, 2016
Exhibition view, ‘Smell Dating,’ New York, 2016
Exhibition view, ‘Smell Dating,’ New York, 2016
Exhibition view, ‘Smell Dating,’ Shanghai, 2016. Photo: Tega Brain
Exhibition view, ‘Smell Dating,’ Shanghai, 2016. Photo: Tega Brain
Exhibition detail, ‘Smell Dating,’ Shanghai, 2016. Photo: Tega Brain.
PRESS
Press Clips, ‘Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne, Smell Dating, 2016.
Featured in:
The Guardian US, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The New York Observer, Fox8, Reuters TV, Al Jazeera, The Creators Project, HuffPost Love and Sex Podcast, ABC News, Time Magazine, The Times of India, Glamour Magazine, Marie Claire, Time Out New York, Time Magazine, Gizmodo, Brooklyn Paper, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Irish Examiner, Radio Hamburg, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Fortune, Daily Mail, New York Daily News, Tech Insider, South China Morning Post, Vice Japan.
CREDITS
Made in collaboration with Sam Lavigne.
Thanks to the Useless Press, Imp Kerr, ITP NYU, School for Poetic Computation, Bruce Kimball from Monell Labs and Amy R. Gordon from Karolinska Institutet.
The Guardian US, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The New York Observer, Fox8, Reuters TV, Al Jazeera, The Creators Project, HuffPost Love and Sex Podcast, ABC News, Time Magazine, The Times of India, Glamour Magazine, Marie Claire, Time Out New York, Time Magazine, Gizmodo, Brooklyn Paper, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Irish Examiner, Radio Hamburg, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Fortune, Daily Mail, New York Daily News, Tech Insider, South China Morning Post, Vice Japan.
CREDITS
Made in collaboration with Sam Lavigne.
Thanks to the Useless Press, Imp Kerr, ITP NYU, School for Poetic Computation, Bruce Kimball from Monell Labs and Amy R. Gordon from Karolinska Institutet.