Lydia Schouten

“Have you used your perfume collection for other works? i.e. ‘Acceptance Art’ and ‘It’s Still Materialistic, Even If It’s Liquid (From Me To You)’ with Lydia Schouten performances.” – AC. “I call all my work in all mediums ‘Acceptance Art’, so yes. And in performances perfume often figures heavily, or at least some. I try to sneak perfume into everything I do. Soon I will write an open letter for the Amsterdam poetry platform Perdu and we will hopefully include a perfume element in the letter. I did a performance in Switzerland/Bern in I think 2009 with 25 perfumes from my collection. I have included them as readymades in installations, and just shared whenever and however I can the wonder that is perfume. That performance, ‘It’s Still Materialistic, Even If It’s Liquid (From Me To You)’ with Lydia Schouten (a very significant and relevant Dutch artist who is a feminist art pioneer) was a three hour nude performance giving advice and consultations to visitors at an exhibit opening where the work was installed as a sculpture in Ikea vitrines. I totally loved that performance and got a lot of attention for it, even in the minds of people who weren’t there in person. It seemed to define something particular and create an atmosphere I would like to explore more. It was a sharing of joy and even love.” – SMW. “Do you have an inventory of your perfumes?” – AC. “Yes, please see above. This is pretty accurate, and fun, with pictures and reviews by other perfume enthusiasts. Fragrantica.com is my favourite perfume site, bar none, hands down. Serious and playful at the same time, endlessly fascinating. Here’s to many more perfumed adventures for us all!! You asked me what perfume has that relates to other elements of my work: I would say ‘romanticism’ and ‘spontaneity’ (spelling?) are both aspects of many things I do, and ways that I live and work, that perfumes embody as well. And I wanted to add: My story of how the collection began, which bottle was first, etc. is always different depending on when I am asked, by whom, and why. I remember buying ‘Charles Jourdan’ called the ‘sexiest perfume in the world’ and then ‘Le Male’ by Jean-Paul Gaultier. And I remember going into a perfumery and asking for ‘La Prairie’ eau de parfum, which I wrote about in my answers to you and I was told to try ‘Spellbound’ from Estée Lauder which I ended up buying and loving. But these were for use and not specifically for collecting like the ‘White Shoulders” bottle I mentioned being my first in the collection. Another early fascination was for ‘Jungle Gardenia’ which used to be Liz Taylor’s favourite perfume, and others (I think that was composed in the 1940s or 1950s). You can start with perfume and get to any other sector of society somehow. It is all interconnected and has even been referred to as ‘subversive’. Guides I like and trust are ‘Perfumes: The A-Z Guide’ from 2008 by Tania Sanchez and Luca Turin. And then ‘Perfumes: The Guide 2018’ again by Tania Sanchez and Luca Turin. And for vintage perfumes my favourite book is ‘Scent and Subversion: Decoding A Century Of Provocative Perfumes’ by Barbara Herman (I think this was released in 2013 or 2015 but I am not sure). I am specifically not looking up dates of publication etc. because I like to trust my memory now and not internet’s :)” – SMW.