bodywork0:44
bodywork0:44
subject/object, real/representational, people/things, mind/body, form/substance, body/soul etc.
Modernity has often been characterised in terms of its operation of dualisms. Over the past few decades the social sciences have witnessed an increasing interest in the body and analyzed embodied aspects of action, social interaction and meaning-making. This clip draws attention to the perfumer’s body as an active player in the process. Bodily practices are shown as a potential resource to produce value: Labour exists as «a resource in the bodiliness of the worker», Karl Marx once noticed in his influential value theory. Scents actually penetrate and involve the human body. However, once a scent becomes part of olfaction, its status as object is completely lost in the body and in the experience of olfaction The perfumer’s body serves as the origin point for all olfactory knowledge and experience. It is the basic source of information and comprehension that gives rise to brief intuitive observations. These observations are often articulated by the perfumer using surprisingly emotional, experiential and sensorial vocabulary. In fact, we seldom heard perfumers use the technical vocabulary we anticipated based on our preparatory readings. The role of the body in perfumery is certainly an extreme case. Yet, a deeper understanding of this practice helps to traverse modernity’s dualisms.