In partnership with the scent artist Sissel Tolaas, SHOWstudio is launching a groundbreaking initiative to create a fragrance on the Internet. Based on a provocative concept yet to be announced and currently in the process of copyrighting, the scent will be created over the coming months, taking its inspiration from the theme and activities of a controversial subculture and using Tolaas’ amazing ‘headspace’ technology.
Initial research and sampling stages will converge in the live broadcast of a grand event, which will provide film and stills material to be used in the fragrance’s marketing. SHOWstudio viewers will also be invited to participate in the product’s creation, potentially contributing imagery for packaging or publicity purposes. Each of the many processes involved –from Tolaas’ scientific practice, the design of the special bottle, to the launch event itself- will be recorded on SHOWstudio via ongoing phone diaries, film shorts, live broadcasts and blog entries that document every aspect of the venture, aiming both to shed light on the mysterious machinations of the perfume industry as well as to use the internet as a platform for scent for the first time.
> FILM INTERVIEW: SISSEL TOLAAS
Last Updated Friday 2nd March 2007
Documentary filmmakers Marcus Werner Hed and Jeremy Valender’s profile of the artist Sissel Tolaas, based around an interview about her life and work, captured in December 2006.
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> AUDIO INTERVIEW: SISSEL TOLAAS
Last Updated Friday 2nd March 2007
Listen to the full biographical interview with scent artist Sissel Tolaas, detailing her extraordinary background and education in Norway, Warsaw and Russia as well as the ingenious small projects she dreams up from her Berlin laboratory and exhibits across the world.
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> INTERVIEW: SISSEL TOLAAS EXTRAS
Last Updated Friday 2nd March 2007
A grab bag of delicious audio/visual outtakes from the filming of Tolaas’ interview detailing, among other things, the workings of the intriguing “headspace technology” that creates her mimetic scents.
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Not for the faint of heart!
A follow-on - and arguably a step up - from our earlier foray into sweat-soaked post-fight t-shirting, our latest Violence update lives up to the project name (and is not for those of a delicate constitution). A week ago, Tristan Thomson and Antony Parsons filmed the fights and the aftermath of an Ultimate Challenge UK cage combat event at East London's Troxy. Our three minute edit, featuring the Titan fighters team Chris Grieg, Jason Young, Brad 'One Punch' Pickett, Dean Bray and Mickey Papas, captures in explicit detail the raw brutality of cage combat as the contestants spar. In startling contrast, to close the film Tristan towels down the contestants to send further samples to Sissel Tolaas in Berlin to help bring the Violence fragrance to fruition.
Many thanks to the Titan Fighters team, Dave O'Donnell and Atif.
By SHOWstudio, 18:41 Friday, 3 April
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> CONTRIBUTORS
Sissel Tolaas
Sissel Tolaas is a Norwegian artist who lives in Berlin. She studied mathematics, chemistry and visual arts in Bergen, Warschau, Poszan, St. Petersburg and Oslo, receiving many national and international scholarships. Since 1990...
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Nick Knight
Nick Knight, Director of SHOWstudio.com, is among the world’s most influential and visionary photographers. As a fashion photographer, he has consistently challenged conventional notions of beauty and is fêted for his groundbreaking creative...
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> CREDITS
Concept: Nick Knight and Sissel Tolaas
Direction: Nick Knight
Editorial and Creative Direction: Penny Martin and Paul Hetherington
Interview Film Cinematography and Edit: Marcus Werner-Hed and Jeremy Valender
Interview: Penny Martin
Piano: Sophie Tilburyn
Piano Composition: Bo Harwood
Translation: Margherita Hohenlohe
Project Design: Paul Bruty
With thanks to Zimmerli for supply of T-shirts