Almost Fragrant Pseudobotany: A Bouquet of Encounters With Faux Flora Across Time – A Visual Essay
Kerstin Kraft, Susanne Schmitt
Chapter from the book: Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A et al. 2023. SMELL.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A et al. 2023. SMELL.
A visual essay pointing towards the more-than-visual: in their pseudobotanical derive, the authors follow the olfactory traces of a peculiar sort of plants. They visit a range of sites where artificial flowers, once an important element of fashion and everyday place-making practices, grow. Following a whif of wax, felt, and silk, faux flora is found in museum depots, derelict factories, and Intellectual Property Law documentation vaults. The authors provide a spectral bricolage of legal documents, proofs of patent displaying fragrance-generating contraptions with an astonishing resemblance to botanical drawings, and historical artificial flowers, which is woven into and re-mixed with a written account that foregrounds the political and historical dimension of each encounter within the bouquet.
Kraft K. & Schmitt S. 2023. Almost Fragrant Pseudobotany: A Bouquet of Encounters With Faux Flora Across Time – A Visual Essay. In: Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A et al (eds.), SMELL. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book68.d
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Published on Dec. 4, 2023