Hyper-Natural: From Design to Art

Overview

Spring has sprung and the flowers are beginning to bloom again, but you don't have to be in the Botanic Gardens to experience some of the magic. To celebrate the exciting new season, the NGV are exploring the world of scent. Amidst 18,000 newly-planted flowers, manmade clouds of scent will be dispersed in the gallery's sculpture garden from September 25 - November 30.

Curated by former New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr — yeah, that's a real job — Hyper-Natural will explore the little-known process of scent design. Presented as a showcase from initial scent molecule to finished synthetic product, seven perfumes will be dispersed in the area as original scent artworks.

Burr claims he wants visitors to "move beyond mere emotional responses and memories to recognise and thing critically about scent design". But don't worry, no one's going to stop you from obliviously wandering around the garden taking in all the pretty smells. Time to sedate that hayfever with some Coco Chanel.

Photo credit: HereIsTom via photopin cc.