Kunsthalle Bremen, 2021

Filling an entire room, New Cartographies Of Smell Migration celebrates migration in all its forms. This olfactory-acoustic sculpture traverses several borders, addressing itself equally to the nose, eyes and ears. 

The fragrance at the core of the installation comes from tree resin, Peru balsam (Myroxylon balsamum pereirae), from El Salvador, and styrax gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), from the rainforest of Honduras. Among the Mayan peoples these substances and their fragrances play a major cultural, religious and medicinal role, and the resins were exported around the world by colonizers, starting in the 16th century. 

The maps of the world that serve as a framing backdrop allude to this connection. The use of large-format maps in the space is formally reminiscent of the Renaissance-era map room, such as can be seen in the Palazzo Farnese near Rome (1573-74). Maciá’s four maps presented here in New Cartographies Of Smell Migration expand the perception of global connections through the sense of smell, engendered through trade, winds and insects. 

On an accompanying LP record, Maciá blends the sounds of wind he recorded in various deserts in the world with recordings of insects from the bustling rainforest in the Choco region of his homeland, Colombia. The maps are annotated with the artist’s written notes on cultural history and the biological role of smell, complementing the visitor’s sensual experience with language. 

In this work, Oswaldo Maciá presents historical, geographical and biological dimensions of smell, and sets our perceptions and thoughts in motion. 

Text by Mara-Lisa Kinne