« THE INSTITUTE OF SYNESTHESIA IS A RESEARCH PROJECT EXPLORING THE SENSORY BASIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND SENSE-BLENDING POTENTIAL »

ARPA, INSTITUTE
OF SYNESTHESIA

Arpa, the lnstitute of Synesthesia, is a research project exploring the sensory basis of consciousness and sense-blending potential, such as the flavor of light. At Arpa, fragrance transcends ordinary observation, offering an experimental and ritual pathway into synesthesia, phytohormonal sentience, and wider perceptual awareness. We experience the future of fragrance with all of our senses: you will be able to listen listen to the scent.

« AT ARPA, WE EXPERIENCE THE FUTURE OF FRAGRANCE WITH ALL OF OUR SENSES. YOU WILL LISTEN TO THE SCENT »

SYNESTHESIA

1. Synesthesia: noun-biology: secondary or associated sensation that is produced in one part of the body by a stimulus on another part.

2. Synesthesia: noun-psychology: the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

3. Synesthesia: a spontaneous joining in which the information received in one sense is accompanied by a perception in another sense. Simultaneous perception of multiple stimuli in one experience. A blending or intermingling of different sense modalities.

« SIMULTANEOUS PERCEPTION OF MULTIPLE STIMULI IN ONE EXPERIENCE »

SUBSTANCE

By creating a shared instant, perfume is a weapon and a courteous gesture. It's a powerful addiction to concentrated attention, as breath becomes its own form of observation in a space filled with latent details. Scent is present in everything, sampling from the past and the future, becoming organic in its construction and leaving space for imagination. At Arpa, we work with the purest natural materials. Listen to them to elicit transmissions from extra-sensory wavelengths; to eschew a future of artificiality in favor of joyful poetry. Everything that we're doing in perfumery is visual and related to our own synesthesia, to convey not just a memory but a texture. We're always running after a blurry image that becomes more focused with time.

Aromas are thought of as multivalent sensorial detonators, therefore the approach to scent blending rather than the traditional "evoke memory." At Arpa, we evoke futuristic sensations, as the perfumes not only smell but can be touched and heard at the same time, provoking an organoleptic experience in the observer, or in this case, the smeller. To better approach all senses at the same time, each fragrance is accompanied by a set of tokens, tangible and not, such as photographs, musical pieces, and sculptures.

MODULAR

Arpa draws inspiration from the first synthesizer frequencies and takes this experimental approach to modularity at Arpa. We produce modular sequences of seven fragrances. Resisting ordinary boundaries of experience, the fragrances reflect a vital interconnectedness and a fluid space in which elements come into correspondence. The seventh release of each sequence is matter, a substance that exists in all the fragrances that came before it, the elemental base that connects and intensifies the preceding constituents.

Named after the muse of lyric poetry and the ARP synthesizer, Arpa celebrates the pioneers of visionary music, whose modular experiments with sound created a sensorial richness that reflected the complexity of noise and wider synesthetic frequencies. The first Arpa sequence finds resonance with these icons: in oscillations and wavelengths that penetrate all of our cells, and in the lush reverberations of discovery.

« NAMED AFTER THE MUSE OF LYRIC POETRY AND THE ARP SYNTHESIZER, ARPA CELEBRATES THE PIONEERS OF VISIONARY MUSIC »

« A RECOMBINATORY LANDSCAPE, IN WHICH THE ELUSIVENESS OF SCENT IS MINGLED WITH THE SOLIDITY OF BUILT ENVIRONMENTS TO "ILLUSTRATE THE ETHEREAL," AS DU PASQUIER SAYS. TITLED "A 3D PERFUME" (2020), THE OIL ON PAPER PIECE IS PART AN "ADVENTURE THAT HAS TAKEN ME FROM OBJECT TO SPACE AND FROM REPRESENTATION TO ABSTRACTION »

SOUNDWAVES

A founding member of the influential Memphis Group, whose explorations developed space in painting and graphic in the dimensional, Nathalie Du Pasquier moved her focus from industrial design to painting in 1987 and has painted every day since. Her piece exclusively for Arpa, rendered in wet, dark greens, draws on the artist's singular visual identity and describes a recombinatory landscape, in which the elusiveness of scent is mingled with the solidity of built environments to "illustrate the ethereal," as Du Pasquier says. Titled "A 3D perfume" (2020), the oil on paper piece is part of an "adventure that has taken me from object to space and from representation to abstraction," and marks the visionary artist's ongoing traverse across expressive categories.