The olfactory present: By means of smoke is a sensory-based socially engaged artwork that attempts to raise awareness and stimulate dialogue around cultural differences using olfactory traditions. The project takes the form of a cooking school that showcases the diversity of culinary traditions within the community. Collaboratively with community members and a chef, Goeltzenleuchter will design a curriculum that fuses many of the culinary traditions we see and smell at park cookouts. Parks are egalitarian spaces where groups can come together and share a meal. Often the scent-scapes emerging from these meals reveal a lot about a culture’s identity, about its relationship to space and time. The project will culminate in a large-scale, artist-orchestrated culinary project that features interactive information boards and smell displays. At the culmination, Goeltzenleuchter will create a cookbook to commemorate the project and encourage readers to explore other cultures' culinary traditions.

Sign up to participate in the free cooking school (class space is limited)!