Losing sense, loss of taste and/or smell due to COVID-19?! Sure, it happens regularly. Artist Elena Rosa's interactive video installation "Losing Sense" was inspired by this side effect of the Coronavirus. How do you offer people who have lost their sense of smell a scent-based experience? And how do you make that smell visible through art? By using the phenomenon that people experience other sensory sensations when seeing a certain scene, such as smelling certain scents. Smells are more important than we think, smell is an underrated sense and not being able to smell (anosmia) is a handicap. The sense of smell, stronger than other senses, has an intimate relationship with deep emotions, memories and associations (e.g. your first love's perfume, your grandfather's aftershave, childhood memories of a summer holiday in a field of lavender). Seeing certain images and scenes can evoke smells and associated emotions and memories. That is what you can experience in "Losing Sense".

 "Losing Sense" is a highly topical and intriguing multidisciplinary work of art in which Elena Rosa collaborates with designer Jan van Steenbergen, artist Lotus Dali Rooijakkers, cameraman Pier van den Elsen and visual artist Jacqueline Petit. In this installation, remotely controlled image recordings of ten fragrant and recognizable places in Leiden (bakery, pub, environmental street) unmistakably evoke smells and tastes.

17 oktober 2021 at Papegaaisbolwerk 25 in Leiden.

A big thank you to Guido Winkler en Iemke van Dijk, EST Art Foundation.

This project has been made possible by the municipality of Leiden.

Article credits: Kees Cools