Don't Lick Me
mixed-media olfactory installation (ceramic cones, snow ice-cream, various smells)
Exhibition view at Havnemuseum, Berlevåg (NO), 2026
What does it mean to introduce smell where there seems to be none?
This ephemeral installation investigates sensory deprivation and perceptual hierarchy within the Arctic landscape—an environment shaped by extreme climatic conditions.
A series of identical, visually uniform, sculptural ice creams made from the most abundant local material—snow—are infused with unique smells inspired by the material conditions of the place. By avoiding well-known aromas, the work resists immediate associations, instead directing attention toward smell as an independent perceptual and cognitive phenomenon.
Through this subtle intervention, olfaction is reactivated within a context where it is largely absent. In an extreme winter landscape often perceived as static, smell has the power to reintroduce temporality by surfacing sensory residues of ongoing activity, capable of revealing overlooked dimensions of a place.