Memories Of Water

MoE - Museum Of Emptiness, St.Gallen

©Michel Canonica

“Memories Of Water”, Molekül-Installation

„Heute besteht kaum Zweifel daran, dass die intuitive Vorstellung vom leeren Raum als statischem, ereignislosem Schauplatz vollkommen falsch ist. Infolge der Quantenschärfe ist der leere Raum ein Tummelplatz turbulenter Quantenaktivitäten.“
Brian Greene (Der Stoff aus dem der Kosmos ist)

Es gibt Stimmen, die sagen, Wasser könne verschiedene Strukturen annehmen, es würde auf Umgebungseinflüsse und gar Emotionen reagieren, es hätte ein Gedächtnis und könne Information speichern. Andere wiederum sind davon überzeugt, bei Wasser handle es sich einfach um eine chemische Verbindung, die eine Formel habe: H20 …

Für „Memories of Water“ hat Divjak Wasser aus dem Bodensee entnommen – Wasser, in dem auch jenes der Steinach enthalten ist – und es zurück nach St.Gallen gebracht. Dieser Weg führt geografisch wie zeitlich zum hier angelegten Klostergarten des frühen 9. Jahrhunderts zurück. Der Künstler entnimmt zudem, den damals angebauten 73 Kräutern und Heilpflanzen, drei Essenzen. Um die olfaktorische Idee eines verlorenen Paradiesgartens angereichert, werden die gesammelten Moleküle nun mittels spezieller Gerätschaft verwirbelt und im leeren Ausstellungsraum freigesetzt. Spuren aus Iris, Laurus und Ysop schwingen in „dieser geheimnisvollen Leere, die wir Raum nennen“ (Peter Zumthor) und weihen das MoE symbolisch ein.

Eröffnung: 10.9, 19.00 Uhr. Museum of Emptiness | Oberer Graben Haldenstrasse 5 | 90000 St. Gallen | www.museumoe.com

2013Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

DIFFUSING MOLECULES #3

Scent Design – Christmas Market Schloß Schönbrunn

Setup: Schönbrunn-Duftinszenierung ©Paul Divjak

“Diffusing Molecules #3″, preparation work

Scent design for the traditional Christmas Market at Schloß Schönbrunn, Vienna – Winter 2013. [Client: MTS Marketing Tourismus Synergie Wien GmbH]

In cooperation with Elke Kies from MagicBox we composed subtile resinous fir tree notes and exclusive orange and herbal blends. And provided the client with three custom-built scent beaming units in order to create extraordinary olfactory experiences for the visitors of the market.
Imagine: a romantic winter night, a slight breeze, and a smelly smell. All organic. – Just a senusal surplus. No manipulation intended.

2016Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

Im Prater blüh´n …

Duftinstallation / Smellscape

“Im Prater blüh´n wieder die Bäume”, MuseumQuartier

IM PRATER BLÜH´N WIEDER DIE BÄUME, Smellscape / scent installation, 2016
(In Prater the trees are blossoming again)

A project commissioned for Wir-sind-Wien-Festival
Public Space, Vienna – in cooperation with: Kunst Haus Wien / Museum Hundertwasser, Historical Museum of Vienna, Museums Quarter Vienna, The Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art.

With „In Prater the trees are blossoming again “ Paul Divjak is focusing on the diversity of urban smell and the manipulation of our olfactory surroundings. Setting up temporary smellscapes (olfactory interventions) the artist is transferring odours of famous Vienna Prater (the Emperor´s former hunting grounds) into the very city center, and in front of several museums. The aroma of musty earth, woods, lime blossoms and lilac is to be experienced at urban locations, which usually are defined by the lack of any green.The audience is such invited into the realm of the sense of smell and to reflect everyday perceptions.
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2011Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

Diffusing Molecules #1

Eau Majesty @ Neue Galerie, N.Y

The idea was to develop an advanced room diffusing edition of my fragrance EAU MAJESTY (Saint Charles, Vienna) for the Neue Galerie, New York.

During the exhibition FRANZ XAVER MESSERSCHMIDT 1736-1783: FROM NEOCLASSICISM TO EXPRESSIONISM the whole museum was supposed to be smelling like a blossoming Royal Orangerie …

2019Scent Lab ViennaSmellscapes

Change Was Our Only Chance

by Time´s up

Setup: “Change Was Our Only Chance” by Time´s Up

For this project by the artists´collective Time´s Up Paul Divjak was invited to develop an olfactory scenographic approach and create an experimental, dystopian scentscape. The result was an irritating bouquet of a futuristic harbor breeze, defined by muddy waters, wet wooden notes, and sweet rotten Asian flowers. A subtile but smelly trip to the year 2047. [Phase 1 of an experiment / collaborative work in progress]

AIL – Angewandte Innovation Lab – Franz-Josefs-Kai 3 1010 Wien, Vienna

02.09.2019 - 27.09.2019

In these times of fundamental change, this mix of installation and process wants to make you “want for the future”. The future perspective into the present makes it clear that the future for us (humans) will only be experienced if we introduce changes today.

An possible future is sensually experienced through a physical narrative, a form of immersive environment, explored in the enveloping spatial arrangement, in the here and now, in a curious and playful process.

Possible futures fuel passion to boldly explore and popularize the complexity of our time. Possible futures are demystified and stripped of anxiety. Uncertain future scenarios are no longer terrifying, because in that future we see that people in the past had understood: “Change our our only chance.”

We look forward to working with the lecturers, researchers and students of the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Applied Innovation Laboratory AIL in this project of exhibition and discussion, workshop and exploration.

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