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 simultaneously with a similar action in Perth, Australia, 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 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 will begin at 10.30am

with Curated Biodiversity, Tartu