How can scents enhance the impact of guided museum tours? towards an impact approach for olfactory museology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the field of sensory museology, olfactory approaches are gaining more attention, from curators, heritage communication and education, artists and researchers. However, olfactory museology, conducting and studying experiments with smell in curatorial practices, is suffering from a lack of documentation – both regarding the experiments conducted, and the impact of the approaches. In this paper we report on the development of scented guided tours in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (2015–2020): a co-creation between academics, heritage professionals, and the scent industry. We describe 1) the creation of historically informed and artistic scents to accompany works of art, 2) the experimentation with different methods for olfactory storytelling and smell distribution techniques, 3) the development of a methodology for impact measurement (through questionnaires, interviews and observation), and 4) the outcomes of the impact analysis, also taking into account the advantages of olfactory storytelling for people of different abilities, in this case blind people and people with low vision.