Now shes brought her talents to The Met.
I see the smell molecule as the alphabet of emotional intelligence, she says.
Smell is the biggest preserver of emotion in humans.
Sissel Tolaas for Balenciaga, spring 2024 ready-to-wear
The machines still have not shown the capacity to show emotion the way that humans [do].
In 97 I decided to dedicate myself completely to this topic [of smell].
Unlike professional noses and the fragrance industry at large, Tolaas does not aim to yo.
A Paul Poiret dress (center) in front of Tolaas’s scratch-and-sniff wall
Im not perfuming spaces, she says.
My molecules are the alphabet of the air.
Scents, she has noted, often remind people of their grandmothers.
A Philip Treacy hat and dresses (from left) by Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, and Dolce & Gabbana, near Tolaas’s tube installation
The first time you smell something, that remains the reference for the rest of your life.
[After] puberty, smells are stored in the subconscious and the reference is already there.
This is important because its her belief that nothing is more true than a smell.
A Christian Dior dress with one of Tolaas’s smell installations using glass vessels
We have the knowledge and the science to make the invisible world accessible in a different way.
Tolaas found explaining her objectives challenging until the onset of the pandemic.
Suddenly everybody came to me [saying,] Sissel,thatswhat youve been doing for 25 years.
Finally we get it.
For Tolaas, interconnectivity is key.
We are in this together.
We have to learn from each other, including other living species.
This is also what Andrew Bolton is trying to communicate in this exhibition.
Its all about chemistryeverything is about chemistry.
