As part of the Olfacto-Politics: The Air as a Medium project, 2025 CCBT artist fellow Ueda Maki will hold the olfactory seminar Smell Lab. Applications are now open for participants. Both students and working adults are welcome to apply.
Based in the Netherlands, Ueda Maki is a 2025 CCBT artist fellow and leading figure in the olfactory art world for over 20 years. Her new project is Olfacto-Politics: The Air as a Medium.
In response to CCBT’s annual theme, Future Commons, Ueda’s project treats the air as part of the commons, attempting to provide a visualization and tangible experience of air and how it circulates. Smell forms the starting point for the project approach, with the aim of creating something perceivable for all the senses.
Applications are now open to take part in Smell Lab, an olfactory seminar that kicks off the project. There are few opportunities anywhere to learn about the sense of smell. Smell Lab offers lectures on basic olfactory knowledge, memory and emotion, aesthetics and expression, and odor measurement. It provides a varied and unique curriculum, including group work, perfume-blending workshops, and fieldwork.
Join the seminar to learn about smell through olfactory experiments and creative endeavors! We look forward to receiving your application.
Online Information Session: Sunday, October 6, 2025, 7–8 p.m.
This webinar provides an introduction to Smell Lab. The session features an overview of the project and Smell Lab curriculum, and also includes time for questions. Please apply below if you wish to take part.
Smell Lab Curriculum (TBC, updates to follow)
■Intensive Study Session Day 1: Saturday, November 8, 2025, 4–6 p.m.
– Introduction
– Participant self-introductions
– Lectures (facilitator: Ueda Maki)
・Odor and the sense of smell
・Smell, memory, and emotion
・Olfactory aesthetics and expression
・Climate change and smell (aromatic volatiles)
・Shibuya’s smellscape
★Reference books
Art Scents: Exploring the Aesthetics of Smell and the Olfactory Arts(Larry Shiner)
■Intensive Study Session Day 2: Sunday, November 9, 2025, 2–6 p.m.
– Group work
– Perfume workshop: Blending nitrogen dioxide and ozone
■Distillation Workshop: Friday, November 14, 2025, 5–7 p.m.
■Symposium and FAIMS Smell Measurement Demonstration: Saturday, November 15, 2025, 2–6 p.m.
Presenters: Ueda Maki, Iwasaki Yoko, Touhara Kazushige, Ujimoto Katsuya
Open to the general public. Details available here.
※Project activities may continue on subsequent dates (participation is optional).
Application Guidelines
Application period: September 29–October 12, 2025
Participant numbers: approx. 15
Participant age: 18 and above
*The Smell Lab curriculum and activities may involve photography, filming, and coverage by external media outlets such as newspapers and television broadcasters. Images and videos may be used for the purposes of documentation and public relations by the organizers, and may also be published by media outlets.
Recommended Applicants
– Those who want to learn about the sense of smell
– Those interested in or practicing the use of smell and fragrance as a medium for their creative output
– Those who want to try expressing smell as a phenomenon through various means, including smoke, mist, light, sound, and digital technology
– Researchers, students, and creative practitioners interested in interdisciplinary collaboration
Application and Participation Requirements
– Conversational English skills sufficient for taking part in a discussion
– Proven track record with research or creative activities
– Future goals and plans for your activities
– Ability to participate in the entire curriculum as currently scheduled
– Strong desire to learn about olfactory art
– Ability to participate actively in olfactory-related discussions on Discord and the ability to use Google Maps to create smell maps
– Ability to complete homework and assignments, and to participate in group work
Selection Criteria
Selection of participants will be made by the organizers based on the application content.
Result Notification
Applicants will be notified of the results by email on October 17, 2025 (TBC).
Application Process
Please apply via the application form.
Project “Olfacto-Politics: The Air as a Medium“
This multifaceted project takes smell as a starting point for exploring the notion of the air we breathe as part of the commons, and attempts to make it possible to see and experience the air. The project comprises three parts: offering opportunities to learn in the form of lectures and workshops; conducting research to make the olfactory visible by using technology to measure the highly subjective sense that is smell; and creating and exhibiting spatial works that express air circulation. In this way, the project takes the air, the medium by which humans and all living creatures exchange manifold kinds of information, as a stepping stone to encourage us to think about biodiversity and biomes, and to inspire new ways of looking at the world.
Project structure
Phase 1
Olfactory Seminar “Smell Lab”
Phase 2
Research
Phase 3
Exhibition
CCBT Art Incubation Program
One of CCBT’s core programs, the Art Incubation Program provides opportunities for creative talent to undertake new projects and makes those processes accessible to the public, facilitating forms of artistic expression, exploration, and action that change our city for the better. Selected through an open call, five artist fellows will act as CCBT partners, developing their projects, making the creative process public, exhibiting the results, and holding workshops and talks.
