Scents of the Anthropocene — Justin Brice Guariglia

Scents of the Anthropocene: Concrete
2019
Custom scent, nebulizing diffuser
Installation size variable

Scents of the Anthropocene: Concrete is an essence artwork that performs as a sensory manifestation of humans’ most ubiquitous and insidious industrial impact on the planet. The prevalence of concrete in industry has become so banal as to render this anthropocentric intervention near-invisible. In its olfactory manifestation, however, Concrete recontextualizes this materiality, inviting viewers to consider industrial expansion in alternative sensory modes. The ephemerality of scent is placed in stark contrast with the permanence of concrete as both material and environmental mediator. As viewers relate to ecological interposition through the medium of scent, the permanent and inconspicuous material is proved as an atmospheric expectation.

Inspired by Guariglia’s conversations with the Anthropocene Working Group on identifying markers of human environmental impact, the scent seeks to involve the viewers’ greater sensory experience in order to plant an impactful ecological thought, beyond scientific text. Guariglia’s frequent collaborations with scientists, philosophers, and other artists inform his study of ecological issues and expand the approaches he takes to communicate the proven implications. For this work, Guariglia collaborated with Sean Raspet, an artist working with fragrance molecules, to develop the scent of concrete.

Scents of the Anthropocene: Concrete offers a unique involvement with the conversation on our planetary crisis. The scent calls attention to human’s systemic violence against the natural world, and to concrete’s literal and symbolic displacement of natural resources. The collaboration between Guariglia, Raspet, and climate scientists carries study beyond the journal. A new behavior – a reimagination of living within the new ecology of infrastructure.