Swallowable Parfum: The Evolution of Scent or the Senses?
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Downing-Peters, Lauren
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Abstract
As a non-visual mode of communication, body odour plays a significant role in perceptions of self-identity, the identification of others and the social and psychological aspects of interpersonal exchange. What is more, it is a reflection of our genetic make-up, state of health and our environment. The use of perfume to mask or control body odour is a long-established practice extending from early civilisations. Sprayed on the skin, perfume is understood to stimulate mood or memory, effect cognitive performance or confidence, and even influence sexual attraction. Modern advances in manufacturing technologies however are producing a shift in methods of fragrance delivery. From conventional sprays we are moving toward microencapsulated garments and sensory fashion designs that respond to biometric measures such as heart rate or body temperature. Against this background of technological innovation in fashion and beauty practices, selflabelled ‘body architect’ Lucy McRae has developed the Swallowable Parfum (2011). Wresting smell back into the realm of the conceptual, McRae and collaborator, synthetic biologist Sheref Mansy, propose the release of a unique genetic scent ‘synthesized from the body’s natural processes,’1 and emitted through perspiration. Crossing the dermal threshold, Swallowable Parfum internalises what has previously been an external bodily practice. Can McRae’s project be seen simply as an evolution of technological advances predicated on cosmetic surgical procedures that transform the body? Will such a product render subjects alien from their biological selves, and produce crises in relations with others? Does this speculative project widen the scope of olfaction, or can we understand this as yet another way of colonising bodily functions that are recuperated back into commodity? This chapter will explore these possibilities, including the prospect that Swallowable Parfum has the potential to create a revised ‘epidermic selfawareness,’2 transcending its own difference to create a new, even if synthesised, embodied subjectivity.
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The Body Beautiful? Identity, Performance, Fashion and the Contemporary Female Body
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Art history, theory and criticism
Cultural studies
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Burton, L, Swallowable Parfum: The Evolution of Scent or the Senses?, The Body Beautiful? Identity, Performance, Fashion and the Contemporary Female Body, 2015, pp. 29-48