Body odor, bacteria, and insect mind melds

Abstract

Body odor, bacteria, and insect mind melds For anyone who has ever wanted to share a psychic experience with ants, the opportunity for arthropod communion now awaits you at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum until July 5. There, Anicka Yi’s exhibition “Life Is Cheap” features ants, ant aroma, human body odor, armpit bacteria, agar, and other equally delightful, quirky media. First, you should know that this is art you experience with your nose. When visitors enter the exhibition, canisters spritz scents derived from body odor originating from Asian American women and carpenter ants in a work titled “Immigrant Caucus.” To create the fragrance, Yi sampled the women’s sweat and worked with forensic chemist Kenneth Furton to identify the chemical constituents of the human body odors. Furton, a professor at Florida International University, is a pro at scent detection, although he’s arguably better known for his cadaver odor expertise than for