The Facim Foundation – Arts and Culture in the Mountains invited Caroline Bouissou for a research-creation residency entitled Les paysages du gput. This residency led to the creation of several olfactory artworks, as well as the publication Le sens du mimieu in collaboration with the OAP research group, and the first exhibition of OAP l'Odeur de l'Apparition.

This work consists of an olfactory sculpture and a scented scratch painting referring to landscapes of Savoie that are deeply familiar to those who inhabit, traverse, cultivate, and shape them.

OAP 1

This installation brings together 17 different scents, revealed through a collective performance. The protective layer covering each scent is scratched away using fingernails, house keys, car keys, coins, or any object at hand. Visitors crouch down, gather around, stand on tiptoe, kneel, and lean in to experience the smells.

Garden with Mountain View (right) and Savoyard Seasons (left) are two olfactory landscapes.

What follows is the act of smelling itself: frantic scratching, as if trying to win a lottery ticket; discreet marks and delicate abrasions; and sometimes the inevitable tags—the irrepressible human urge to leave a trace, to write oneself into the work.