Scent is Present an Experimental Handbook of Essays, Resources and Exercises on Olfaction

Smell resists notation, classification, and above all, capture.
Every being has a specific scent, yet scent belongs to nothing and no one.

What does it mean to write about something that so clearly defies the structure of a sentence, a paragraph or even a word? Writing about scent might sound contradictory, yet that contradiction is precisely where this publication begins.

Scent is Present is an experimental publication exploring the ephemeral notion of olfaction. Through essays, exercises, and artistic contributions, it challenges the limits of language, inviting readers to engage with scent as a non-linear, sensory, and embodied phenomenon. Contributors including olfactory artists, scent designers, and sound artists share their practices and reflections that foreground smell in political and ecological contexts.

With active scent exercises throughout the publication such as scent walks, writing prompts, and multisensory experiments, the publication explores and questions engagement with odours, and how odours affect our memories and environment. Scent is Present positions scent as political, while being also subjective and personal.