SoS World Environment Day Australian Dialogues

Sue & Nien Schwarz

Location: Wireless Hill Museum

Time: (UTC+8) 2pm-4pm

This collaboration between Schwarz and Hauri-Downing involves the public distillation of fragrant hydrosols from trees in a quarantine zone in Perth, Australia. Performed simultaneously with a similar action in Tartu, Estonia, this is part of an ongoing collaborative exploration of smell, place-making and solastalgia. Using steam distillation, odorants are extracted from plant material significant to a current biosecurity situation impacting Perth’s urban landscape. An exotic beetle, the Polyphagous Shot-Hole Borer, is reproducing in specific host trees. When an infestation is detected in a tree, the tree is eradicated. The artists create a fragrant memorial.

Tarsh & Linda Knight

Location: Oecologicum, University of Tartu

Time: (UTC+3) 9am-11am

This action is a collaboration between Knight and Bates involving the public distillation of fragrant hydrosols from site-specific plants in Tartu, Estonia and a scent marking performance. Performed at the Traces of Extinction conference, University of Tartu, simultaneously with a similar action in Perth, Australia, this performance is part of Tarsh’s ongoing collaborative exploration of smell, place-making and solastalgia. and Linda’s counter-mapping project. Using steam distillation, odorants are extracted from plant material significant to the locations. Members of the public use the hydrosol to mark and map the plant smells onto a human body ‘protected’ by a hazmat suit. A fragrant and ephemeral memorial is performed.

Audiences can arrive at any time, the mapping onto the human body begins at 10.30am

with Curated Biodiversity, Tartu