AROMUSIC
MaryEllen Childs

AROMUSIC stems from MaryEllen Childs long background as a composer interested in combining music with other art forms- movement or projections or dance or imagery. For this installation at Proyecto ´ace, she was influenced by the sounds of the print lab (the grind of the printer motor, the whoosh of the rollers, the tackiness link) as wells the smells – of ink, paper and blankets. The resulting installation is a deconstruction of the print lab itself.

ABOUT AROMUSIC by MaryEllen Childs

Aroma-music stems from my long background as a composer interested in combining music with other art forms – movement or projections or dance or imagery. Most recently I have been combining music with smells. I often describe myself as “a composer interested in all the senses,” and underlying all these works is a deep curiosity about how our senses interact.

For my works including smells, my overarching aim is to foster a nuanced understanding of how smell affects history, imagination, memory, and perception. By pairing smell with music/sound I am exploring how these two senses interact. How does what we hear affect what we smell? How does what we smell affect how we hear? Both can evoke powerful emotions, vivid memories, and visceral responses. Both can influence how we inhabit our bodies and our history, and therefore are critical vehicles for cultural and personal connection.

For my installation at Proyecto ‘ace, I was influenced by the sounds of the print lab (the grind of the printer motor, the whoosh of the rollers, the tackiness of ink) as well as the smells — of ink, paper, blanket. The resulting installation is a deconstruction of the print lab itself.