From the Waterfall

From the Waterfall: What It Has to Do with the Scent of Participatio

2024 | Project with the Children’s Advisory Board

Opening Days | Multi- sensoric, atmospheric intervention "Magic Moments" | © Max Kropitz

The children of the Advisory Class 1B of Otto Glöckel Primary School St. Pölten were involved in dream.lab, the opening exhibition project of the KinderKunstLabor, in 2024. When asked what they would like to see from the KinderKunstLabor as a whole, they responded after some consideration: “It should smell nice.”

When asked what it should smell like, several of the children replied at the same time: “Like a forest!” As a next step, a perfumer created eight fragrance samples ranging from forest scents to waterfall scents. The KinderKunstLabor team then visited more than 200 children from the children's advisory groups and presented these fragrances to them. The waterfall scent was the clear favorite by an overwhelming majority. At the grand opening of the building in late June 2024, this fragrance was therefore released twice a day through the air-conditioning system, accompanied by dense clouds of mist, much to the delight of the children.

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“In our society, attention is directed toward things and signals. Only when we free ourselves from them can we learn to open ourselves to the atmospheric,” says Gernot Böhme in an interview about the embodied experience of architecture.*
At the KinderKunstLabor, the overall dramaturgy of the building is guided by the diversity of ideas and wishes expressed by children. Their participation may involve the co-selection of sculptures for the park surrounding the KinderKunstLabor, but it can also extend to less tangible aspects. For example, the children of the Advisory Class at Otto Glöckel Primary School St. Pölten were involved in the exhibition project dream.lab by the artist Rivane Neuenschwander from São Paulo. There, the children drew their dreams, for instance on their own pillowcases, while listening to various field recordings such as rain or footsteps in the snow. At that time, shortly before the opening of the new building in spring 2024, the children were in first grade. When asked what they wished for from the KinderKunstLabor, they replied after some reflection: “It should smell nice.” Perhaps their experiences in dream.lab had influenced this response. The exact connection remains open to interpretation. In any case, bringing nature into the museum through olfactory design was one of their most surprising suggestions. Returning to the classroom situation: when the author asked what the KinderKunstLabor should smell like, several children answered simultaneously, “Like a forest!” The next step was to consult a perfumer experienced in art projects, including collaborations with Sissel Tolaas. He provided eight fragrance samples: pine needles, peaty soil, spruce, mountain pine, freshly cut grass, grass, rainforest, and waterfall. The KinderKunstLabor team then visited more than 200 children from the children’s advisory groups in their kindergartens and schools, allowing them to smell and help choose among the eight scents. The waterfall fragrance emerged as the clear favorite across the groups by an overwhelming majority. Consequently, during the building’s opening celebration in late June 2024, this scent was released twice daily into the as-yet-unoccupied exhibition space through the air-conditioning system, accompanied by dense clouds of mist, much to the delight of the children. An incredibly fresh, almost sweet fragrance filled the room. Walking from the exhibition space, where the scent was strongest, into the stairwell made one suddenly aware that concrete also has a smell and is by no means “neutral.” The greater the distance from the first-floor exhibition space, the more noticeable a somewhat musty, dusty, “grey” smell became. With their wish that the building should smell pleasant, the children once again demonstrated that cultural institutions inevitably have blind spots in their planning and programming. In this case, it was a kind of “scent bias” that only became apparent through this intervention. A welcoming atmosphere engages all the senses: alongside what we see, hearing, smell, touch, and taste strongly shape how a place feels.
*Gernot Böhme (n.d.), Atmospheres Are Not Subjective (Atmosphären sind nicht subjektiv), interview:https://www.beton.org/betonbau/architektur/betonprisma/rubriken/position/atmosphaeren-sind-nicht-subjektiv/ .