source: saumadesign

What would you think Helsinki smells like? What about Budapest? Or Paris? Together with the Parisian perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, visual artist Hilda Kozári has created three different perfumes to represent these three cities. The first, Helsinki, was chosen because she has lived there since 1997 and the second, Budapest, as it is her previous hometown. The third scent was included in the installation as an homage to the center of the perfume world – Paris. The true inspiration for the project was the fresh smell of Helsinki.

Scent is an important element in the works of the Hungarian born artist Hilda Kozári. She has studied the effects that the sense of smell has on feelings and on visual expression, how scents bring back to mind people and places. Her final work in 2003 at the Art Institute of Lahti consisted of research on perception, olfaction, memory and identity, and their connection to her own work. She has since continued to explore the world of smells in a series of artworks. Besides her artistic work, Hilda Kozári is currently the exhibition coordinator and curator for the Design Year 2005 at the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo.

The Air installation consists of three bubbles. The bubbles, designed in collaboration with Esa Vesmanen, contain Hilda Kozári’s personal memories and experiences of the three cities in olfactory and visual formats. In this installation, the images of the video are transparent like air and vague like the pictures of her memory, leaving space for the spectators to make their own interpretations. The accurate definition of the urban landscapes is given by the sense of smell, which brings to mind different memories. The odor of a city is not just about the sea, wind, parks, buildings and garbage, but also about people, the living environment, and its emotional, cultural and industrial life connected to memory. As in a personal perfume, the smell of the city depends strongly on the balance of odors. A version of the installation was first presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki in 2003.

The perfumes created by Bertrand Duchaufour are direct olfactory translations of the definitions which Hilda Kozári has chosen to create the atmosphere of each city. Mr. Duchaufour has taken the qualifying words and descriptive images used by Kozári as a starting point for the perfumes. No priority has been given to good scents over bad smells. Whenever possible the scents included in the perfumes are represented by the corresponding raw materials. The impression of thyme has easily been produced with the odor of thyme oil. It has been necessary to use several effects in creating the impression of pollution: juniper tar oil for a smoky impression, nutmeg and synthetic compounds to represent the gasoline and the oily, greasy effect of a garage smell.
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source: almaondobbin

Hilda Kozári studies how the sense of smell affects emotions and visual expression. Her works—objects, paintings and installations—evoke connections between scents, places, memory, and identity.

Born in Hungary, Kozári lives in Helsinki and exhibits in Finland and abroad. In 2006, her Memo-trip installation provided an artist’s reflection on the collection of the Finnish National Gallery, Ateneum. Her olfactory installation AIR, Smell of Cities, was first exhibited in the Contemporary Art Museum Helsinki Kiasma in 2003. The artwork is part of the exhibition SAUMA, which was shown first in the USA and is still touring Europe. This urban olfactory installation is her most recognized artwork, and frequently presented in art, design, architecture, perfume, and life-style magazines and internet blogs.

Kozári’s projects are also inspired by the culture of the visually impaired: her SenseGraffiti installations, created with visually impaired students, were shown at the Vantaa Art Museum, Finland, and her multi-sensory White Wall exhibition was built in the WARC Gallery, Toronto, in 2008.

Hilda Kozári’s latest projects, entitled WHITE, investigate the temperature and tactility of the color white. She is currently also working with a group of artists on a long-term public art project for the city of Vantaa, Finland.
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source: kulturologia

Кроме Парижа, Хильда Козари предлагает зрителям познакомиться с ароматами еще двух европейских городов – Хельсинки и Будапешта. Для этого совместно с парижским парфюмером Bertrand Duchaufour были созданы три композиции, олицетворяющие, по мнению автора, каждый из городов. Выбор городов не случаен, но объясняется достаточно просто: в Хельсинки Козари живет сейчас, ее предыдущим местом жительства был Будапешт, а третьим городом стал Париж как центр парфюмерного мира.

Сама инсталляция представляет собой три прозрачных шара, внутрь которых может войти зритель. Каждый из них содержит личные воспоминания и ощущения Хильды Козари, связанные с тем или иным городом и представленные в визуальном и обонятельном форматах. В данном случае визуальные изображения «прозрачные, как воздух, и нечеткие, как образы в памяти автора, благодаря чему у зрителей остается возможность интерпретировать их по-своему». Но самое главное – каждый шар наполнен определенным ароматом, вызывающим различные ассоциации и воспоминания. По словам Хильды Козари, «это не только запахи моря, ветра, парков, зданий и мусора, но также запах людей, эмоциональной, культурной, индустриальной жизни города».

Автор также добавляет, что при подборе ароматов она не старалась выбирать только хорошие запахи и уклоняться от плохих. Кроме того, везде, где это только было возможно, для создания запахов старались использовать натуральное сырье: к примеру, для получения запаха тимьяна брали натуральное тимьяновое масло.
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source: artportalhu

1986-88: Kirakatrendező és Dekoratőriskola. 1993: R. CATE-ösztöndíj XS4 all, Amszterdam; 1995: A Budapesti Önkormányzat kulturális ösztöndíja, Kunstverein, Bécs; 1996: A KulturKontakt ösztöndíja, Bécs; 1996: MTA Soros Alapítvány művészeti ösztöndíja, Kuvataide-akatemia, Helsinki. Installációi és képei a fény és a tükröződés, a látható és a láthatatlan jelenségeire és kérdéseire reflektálnak (Cím nélkül, 1993), játékos és monumentális forma- és térkezeléssel utalnak a női termékenység szimbolikájára (Piros tojás, 1997).
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source: warcnet

Hilda Kozári est une artiste visuelle vivant en Finlande. Elle s’intéresse à l’effet de l’odorat sur les
émotions et sur l’expression visuelle. Elle a participé à l’exposition Moving in Margins au Vantaa Art
Museum qu’elle a produite en collaboration avec des étudiants visuellement déficients. En 2006, elle a intégré son installation Memo-trip à la collection de la Galerie nationale finlandaise Ateneum. Ses nouveaux projets WHITE s’inspirent de la culture des visuellement déficients. Son installation « AIR, smell of cities » a été présentée à l’exposition Senses/Spaces Process au Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma en 2003 – 2004. La pièce était incluse dans l’exposition itinérante que SAUMA a présentée aux États-Unis, et figurera au Musée du Design de Helsinki. Cette installation olfactive urbaine constitue son œuvre d’art la plus admirée. Elle est souvent présentée dans les blogues et magazines ayant trait à l’art, au design, aux parfums et aux modes de vie sur l’Internet.