Eating perfumes and smelling colour

During this talk art and scent historian Caro Verbeek will dive into a topic that is at the intersection of flavour and smell: the unique history of perfumed banquets from antiquity to the 20th century. The ancient Romans knew that we do not merely perceive scents with our noses (orthonasally), but also with our mouths (retronasally). Not only were fragrances diffused ambiently during banquets, tables and floors rubbed with spices and flowers, but liquid perfumes and flowers were even consumed for a full experience. This forgotten practice was rekindled by a group of artists named the 'Futurists'. They used electric fans and even air plane propellers to distribute smells during extravagant dinner parties. They had a special interest in another fascinating phenomenon: smell-synaesthesia. Whereas most scientists and artists only study colour to sound-synaesthesia, this group of creatives actually tried to translate perfumes to colourful shapes and 'artificial flowers'.

This webinar…