Memory and Impermanence

Sound and smell tend to be treated as two ephemeral realms, because neither is visually or physically tangible. Similarly, they are perceived as very different and opposed among themselves. However, they often engender and spark similar effects, especially with regards to memory. The two artists in conversation have investigated this theme from different angles, Oliver Coates through music, Sissel Toolas through smells and olfact. A discussion will unfold about their practices, at first glance so opposite yet kindred in the way they operate at a cultural vanguard, considering experiences of time and space.

Host: Sarah Miles

Sarah Miles is a music programmer currently curating and managing the Tune sound series at Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany. She will be bringing together the disparate worlds of scent art and contemporary music for a discussion on the tension between memory and permanence, and the way these very different artforms can bypass cognitive interpretation and embed themselves deep in memory. Previously, she programmed the Roter Salon for the Volksbuehne in Berlin, and she is the co-founder of Berlin Community Radio, which broadcasted from 2013 to 2020.

Oliver Coates

British cellist and composer Oliver Coates explores impro- visation, dark ambient and intimate melodic sounds with distortion and tape modulation. His most recent solo record for RVNG is “skins n slime” (2020). He has created acclaimed scores for recent films such as “Aftersun” and “Occupied City”, working closely with directors and pictures to explore narrative and memory. He has collaborated with Mica Levi, Arca, Dean Blunt, Jonny Greenwood and Malibu on live and recorded projects, including the lauded LP “Remain Calm” (Slip) with Levi and Dior’s 2022 Cruise catwalk presentation with Arca, staged at the Athens Panathenaic Stadium. He conducted an orchestra performing his own elec- tronic music for Karl Lagerfeld’s homecoming fashion show for Chanel in 2017 in Amburg.

Sissel Tolaas

A luminary in the realm of olfactory artistry, Sissel Tolaas promotes the investigation of our physical and mental spaces through smell. Born in Norwegia and currently residing in Berlin, Tolaas has forged an interdisciplinary practice at once technical and creative. With her project City SmellScape, since 1998, she has documented and synthesised the scents of over 50 urban areas around the world and studied the smell-scapes of oceans. Through the sense of smell, Tolaas invites the audiences to reimagine their relationship with the environments they inhabit. With a background spanning across chemistry, mathematics, linguistics and art, Sissel has worked with numerous cultural and fashion institutions, including TED Global; Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk; MIT; Harvard University; Balenciaga; Prada and Formafantasma.