Nastya Verzhbitskaya
Olfactophilia
Installation (3D printing, paraffin wax, olfactory components, microelectronics, generative graphics)
2025
Olfactophilia is a project consisting of an olfactory sculpture perfumed with the smell of the human body and a DIY device that imitates the function of the human nose. The project is an artistic study based on the olfactory and chemical analysis of changes to female body odour which occur throughout a month and the relationship between these changes and reproductive function.
Each of us has a unique body odour shaped by a number of factors such as our genotype, diet, environment, and the cosmetic products we use. It works as a kind of signal — known as a chemosignal — for communication with other humans and across species. According to a number of studies, body odour can communicate information on disease, gender, emotional state, sexual preference and reproductive compatibility.
The sculptures, housed within transparent spheres, are made out of paraffin wax, a material able to retain and transmit smells. The artist used a number of tools to sculpt them, including a range of neural networks that generate images based on text prompts, exploring how neural networks trained on large volumes of data generate images of reproductive organs and how far these images are from reality. When conceptualizing the sculpture, Verzhbitskaya used images combined with medical illustrations and real photos of these organs. The sketches for the sculptures were the result of this multi-stage process.
The olfactory device (“digital nose”) created by the artist is based on real scientific research and uses gas sensors in its design. At the same time, the data collected (the artist used her own body as source material) cannot be considered entirely reliable because there is no universally accessible database of similar smells to enable the device to determine what type of substance it is dealing with. Through exploratory engineering, the artist invites us to imagine a future scenario where a device has been developed to obtain very personal information from a person’s odour, as well as to contemplate the potential applications of such a device.
Olfactophilia
Installation (3D printing, paraffin wax, olfactory components, microelectronics, generative graphics)
2025
Olfactophilia is a project consisting of an olfactory sculpture perfumed with the smell of the human body and a DIY device that imitates the function of the human nose. The project is an artistic study based on the olfactory and chemical analysis of changes to female body odour which occur throughout a month and the relationship between these changes and reproductive function.
Each of us has a unique body odour shaped by a number of factors such as our genotype, diet, environment, and the cosmetic products we use. It works as a kind of signal — known as a chemosignal — for communication with other humans and across species. According to a number of studies, body odour can communicate information on disease, gender, emotional state, sexual preference and reproductive compatibility.
The sculptures, housed within transparent spheres, are made out of paraffin wax, a material able to retain and transmit smells. The artist used a number of tools to sculpt them, including a range of neural networks that generate images based on text prompts, exploring how neural networks trained on large volumes of data generate images of reproductive organs and how far these images are from reality. When conceptualizing the sculpture, Verzhbitskaya used images combined with medical illustrations and real photos of these organs. The sketches for the sculptures were the result of this multi-stage process.
The olfactory device (“digital nose”) created by the artist is based on real scientific research and uses gas sensors in its design. At the same time, the data collected (the artist used her own body as source material) cannot be considered entirely reliable because there is no universally accessible database of similar smells to enable the device to determine what type of substance it is dealing with. Through exploratory engineering, the artist invites us to imagine a future scenario where a device has been developed to obtain very personal information from a person’s odour, as well as to contemplate the potential applications of such a device.