Guided Smog Smelling uses the human sense of smell and taste to analyze air pollution and evaluate aeroir—the unique atmospheric taste of place.
Building on our previous Guided Smog Smelling work, the artwork guided visitors through a smog smelling meditation, using the human sense of smell and taste to analyze air pollution. The installation was situated both in the gallery and on the rooftop of the exhibition space where participants could evaluate the “aeroir”—unique atmospheric taste of place—of busy Nathan Road, Hong Kong.
This version of Guided Smog Smelling was was hosted by Tomorrow Maybe Gallery for the exhibition Breath Deep. As part of the exhibition programming, we invited Prof. Chak K. Chan, Dean and Chair Professor of Atmospheric Environment, School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, to share his research on air quality and atmospheric aerosols in connection with styles of cooking. While our Smog Tasting and Guided Smog Smelling projects ask questions about taste of place and the flavor of Smog, Prof. Chan’s research focuses on how what we eat—and how we cook it—contributes to air pollution. His findings show that often times cooking emissions create more air pollution than vehicle emissions and how, in dense cities like Hong Kong, what we choose to cook and eat, can heavily influence what we breath.