Do you remember the fragrance?

It takes you back to memories and leads through transparent layers into the unknown.               

A journey of fragrance, to where does it lead?
Traces of scents, backwards and forwards.
Through what has been, what is, and what we still do not know the smell of.
In longing, vulnerability, intimacy, missing and wonder,
who is this sensitive and vulnerable human being when she closes her eyes?

Personal memories of fragrance connect inner and outer worlds and takeshape in a performance of dance, scenography and music.

Dance & choreography: Carmen Olsson
Scenography: Åsa Herrgård
Music: Harald Svensson
Duration 30 minutes

This performance emerged during an investigative collaboration between us (Åsa Herrgård and Carmen Olsson). We took as a common point of departure an abstract image of fragrance as memories stored within us. Our respective means of expression, dance and movement, sculpture and installation, and our personal fragrance memories were brought to life and took shape during an experimental work process.

Our common interest in nature and in the meeting between our own and Asian cultures colours the performance offering the viewer both a sense of the familiar and the foreign. Between layers of memories, something is set in motion.

Dare we close our eyes? has been performed at the Wanås Konst in Sweden (November 2018) and in Kyoto (March 2019), as part of the Olfactory Art and Science Research project. The work has also been performed at other venues in Sweden where we have had the opportunity, immediately after each performance, to invite the audience for an informal talk about fragrance memory based on what they have just seen. These talks have revealed personal, often nostalgic, scent memories. In so doing the artwork has given the audience the opportunity to take part in each other's associations and awakened memories.

Carmen Olsson, dancer and choreographer has developed a distinctive artistic expression through her Swedish-Spanish heritage, love for nature, Japanese culture and buto, which shapes her dance. http://www.carmenolsson.com

Åsa Herrgård, visual artist, with roots in Finland and in the sculptural tradition where the movements of the body and the impact of nature give power and presence to her sculptures and installations, often coloured by her interest in Chinese culture. http://www.asaherrgard.com/index.htm

Harald Svensson, pianist, composer and jazz musician. Also an accompanist and improviser on his instrument, working with choirs, troubadours, actors, dancers and actors. https://soundcloud.com/harald-svensson