The Performative Role of Scent in Cultural Constructions of Gender
- Submitting institution
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Glasgow School of Art
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 7541
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
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- Brief description of type
- Practice-based multi-component output
- Open access status
- -
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This research output comprises nine scent-based performative artworks that investigate the relationship between scent and socio-cultural systems of binary gender. These works are site- and context-specific and are disseminated in international solo and group shows in the UK, Europe and Canada.
Taking binary gender systems and the inequalities they uphold as a site of critique, this research asks how scent can intervene, in both humorous and affective ways, in cultural assumptions of gender.
Investigating the cultural connotations of both natural and manufactured scent (and both ‘found’ and original formulations), Ursitti’s research harnesses scent’s power to evoke memory - and associated feelings - to challenge dominant conceptualisations of masculinity and femininity. This body of research takes a particular interest in the feminist artist’s interventions in masculine homosocial spaces.
This experimental research practice requires various stages of iteration, testing and development. Methods include: surveys of relevant scientific and cultural history literature on scent; collaborative working with scientists to develop new scent formulae; dialogues with psychologists to better understand the social significance and affective operation of scent; testing in studio with small sample groups; and public dissemination as a form of further testing the effectiveness of a particular scent in a particular context.
Although consistently positioned as one of the world’s leading olfactory artists, Ursitti is less interested in developing new scent formulae as an end in itself and more interested in contributing to studies of the sociology of scent. Building on the research of sociologists such as Karen A. Cerulo (2018), who explores the role of culture in olfactory sense-making, and Kevin E. Y. Low (2005; 2007), who positions smell as a social intermediary that can manifest as a moral judgement of others, Ursitti’s research demonstrates, through practice-based experiments, the power of smell as a socio-cultural phenomenon.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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