Description
June – September 2025 AIL Art Cabin, Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Vienna With SŸS DANCE, the sixth part of the Series of Scenographic Studies, the AIL Art Cabin was transformed into a multisensory environment centered on movement, scent, and sounds. The installation evolved from CONCEPTION OF SŸS – The Smell of a Mythological Being. After more than 2,300 international votes on six specially composed scents, the selected scent became the olfactory core of SŸS DANCE. The space combined smell, sound, and spatial arrangement to invite visitors to move, linger, and physically respond to the atmosphere. Inside the cabin, the walls and windows were covered with selected voting sheets. Mirror film was applied to the outside to create a safe space for visitors inside the cabin. Sound played a central role in the installation. SŸS-inspired tracks, developed throughout the research process, were available via headphones. The lyrics reflect key principles of systems science explored within the project, translating concepts such as interconnectedness, boundaries, and emergence into auditory form. The sound layer thus functioned not as background, but as a conceptual and sensory carrier of the research content. Rather than presenting dance as choreography to be observed, SŸS DANCE positioned movement as an emergent response to sensory stimuli. Visitors shifted between observing, participating, and co-creating the situation. Within the framework of SENSING LIVING SYSTEMS, the installation explored how scent and sound can structure a shared spatial experience and shape modes of collective presence. The format allowed insights from previous studies to be translated into a spatial and performative setting, while the reactions of visitors became part of the continued development of the project. #SLS #SENSING LIVING SYSTEMS #FWFPEEKProjekt #MUELLER-DIVJAK Jeanette Müller, Paul Divjak, Alexandra Graupner, Anna-Maria Irgang




