Roses Smell Like

For Valentine's Day, Het Nieuwe Instituut commissioned an intervention to accompany their Thursday Night Live: Love Edition. Roses Smell Like critically examines the commercial and natural implications of smell on Valentine's Day. Increasingly a commercial event, V-Day is a popular opportunity to profess one's love. One's natural body odor plays a crucial role in finding a romantic partner and developing relationships, while synthetic scent is also applied to products and retail spaces to curb sales. A new electronic device might faintly smell of lavender to attract female buyers, with a hint of tangerine to not discourage male buyers. A very heteronormative approach to retail and odor.

During the event at Het Nieuwe Instituut, roses infused with various different fragrances were handed out. The roses ended up smelling like...confusing and stimulating the senses.