3510
NALLS, GAYIL "WORLD SENSORIUM: The THEORY, PRACTICE and SIGNIFICANCE of THE WORLD SOCIAL OLFACTORY SCULPTURE." PhD
, University of East London, London, England, 2007
Keywords/Fields of Study : aesthetics, aromatherapy, art, behaviour and olfaction, consciousness, crowd theory, culture and scent, emotion and smell, environment field collection, essential oils, ethnographic methodology, ethnographic olfactory, fragrant pharmacy, healing, mass aes
300
pages, written in English
, copyright Gayil Nalls
Abstract: WORLD SENSORIUM: The THEORY, PRACTICE and SIGNIFICANCE of THE WORLD SOCIAL OLFACTORY SCULPTURE by GAYIL NALLS ABSTRACT This practice-based Ph.D. thesis is a case study of a major original work, the olfactory social sculpture World Sensorium (Nalls, 1999). The investigation presents an examination of the philosophical influences of Joseph Beuys (Social Sculpture) and Marshall McLuhan (Mass Communication and Media Ecology), in a discussion of historical aesthetic theory (influenced by Kant and Adorno), and posits World Sensorium as a new framework for understanding the meaning, relationship and impact of aesthetics, phytogenics, human evolutionary olfaction and memory. The work draws upon artistic practice (characterized by interpretive analysis) and scientific (or positivistic) methods, in defining the relationship between botanical scent and cultural identity. This thesis locates its main argument and evidence base in the field of art, with four major overlapping disciplines: e.g. Olfactory Art, related to Olfactory Science (including Behavioral and Evolutionary Sciences); Neuroesthetics, related to Neuroscience; the Philosophy of Aesthetics; and Social Sculpture, as drawn from Art and Cultural Studies. The work of more than 30 contemporary artists who have made distinctive olfactory art is presented as a set of contextualizing case studies, within an examination of key scientific research in a broad range of sub-disciplines including psychology, consciousness research, neuroscience, behavioral and evolution studies and anthropology, as well as the new field of neuroaesthetics. This thesis puts forward a theoretical framework for establishing the new fields of Olfactory Aesthetics and Olfactory Art Informatics. It concludes by exploring the implications of the findings in relation to the future of olfactory informatics, and in particular, to the potential ubiquitous technological (mobile and Web-based) disbursement of scent.
Department: SMARTlab Digital Media Institute & MAGICGamelab
, University of East London, London, England
Advisor(s): Lizbeth Goodman (Ba, MA, MLitt, PhD), Phillipa Beale, Central Saint Martins and Duncan Turner, UEL
