Group Sweat / Gruppenschweiß

A participatory olfactory art installation for the Berlin Circus Festival, 2023.

As an acrobatic and a scent artist, after researching sweat and chemosensory activity in humans, I couldn’t resist creating a project that combines the two. For this art work, I was interested in exploring the taboo around sweat, and the chemicals that we, as humans, create to communicate with one another.

Over the course of the festival, sweaty acrobatics and audience members donated over 300 samples of their sweat. It was fascinating to smell the collection as it evolved over 9 days.

The final scent was described as a "unisex locker room" and "super comforting" - it was really quite a pleasant smell in the end, contrary to what we imagined it would be. It smelled of happiness and connection, and also of the wild combo of 300+ fragranced body products. For me personally, the scent was joyous!

Group Sweat has since been exhibited in Berlin at Sensoriality (2023) and The Ágape (2024).