LA CONFITURE

 

Olfactory and interactive installation, 2019

 

La Confiture is an olfactory installation that investigates the fragmentary nature of memory and the ways in which experiences are preserved and recalled. The work takes the form of shelves mounted on a wall, each holding jars that once contained jam. These everyday containers are repurposed to house carefully prepared scents, evoking the personal and collective memories associated with travel, domestic life, and the passage of time.

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By presenting aromas in familiar vessels, the installation engages the senses directly and intimately, emphasising the ephemeral and elusive character of memory. Each scent acts as a mnemonic fragment: it can trigger recollections of distant places, fleeting moments, or emotional experiences, yet it resists linear narrative, reflecting the inherently partial and selective nature of human memory.

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The title La Confiture ('jam') underscores the conceptual premise of the work: just as fruit is preserved in jars to extend its life, so too are our experiences and memories 'conserved' through sensory traces. The jars, ordinary and domestic in origin, invite viewers to confront the tension between the familiarity of the object and the immateriality of the scent it contains.

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Through this interplay of the mundane and the ephemeral, La Confiture situates scent as both medium and message. It becomes a means of archiving the intangible, a meditation on how memory is stored, shared, and evoked, and an exploration of the intimate relationship between olfaction and lived experience.

 

Publications about project:

2020 “Lisa Shtormit”, Online magazine Creative process, USA