Outer Space (perfume)
What’s the link between the c. 1609 portrait of Prince Amar Singh (our Babloo), the c. 2266 space-ship, the Milky Way and raspberries? *(Answer: It’s “Mughal Futurism”)*
Last month, among the fun interview questions I was asked on the Art Informant podcast by Isabelle Imbert was “What point in history would you time-travel to?” and I gave a very dry response that as a woman, I was not interested in going back in time.
But I wanted to push this idea of time travel in creative ways. In almost all recorded interviews I have given since 2021, I remain emphatic about my love for retro sci-fi because visions of dystopia are plenty, show me what optimism looks like, there’s the challenge. The primary reason I am drawn to these historical illustrations of gardens, fruits, flowers, lakes, trees, grassy mountains and thunderstorms is because such lush depictions serve as excellent visual and sensorial aids to imagine the possibility of an abundantly green future.
Art Informant podcast: Scents of India Gardens with Bharti Lalwani and Nicolas Roth, June 2023
Since I have been painting and crafting 17th and 18th century botanical details in delightful pop-up forms I thought why not bring out the classic 1960s spaceship from Star Trek as a time traveling mobile?! I looked it up and as it turns out that model of the ship, made in 1964 for the set of Gene Roddenberry’s TV series, is in the collection of the Smithsonian, where our Prince Amar Singh also resides. As they live under the same institutional roof, why not bring them out to be shown together?
I quickly sketched out the idea, painted it, cut it out and attached a string so it hangs as if emerging from the thundercloud. Now, with the presence of the star-ship, this pop-up “Playset” (that comes with a rain-perfume & incense) takes on an entirely different meaning. Is our Babloo walking on Earth-terrain or is he out on a secret adventure on an alien planet — I’m not even sure anymore, but I went ahead and made a stop motion space opera which promises to be fun!
As for the philosophical underpinnings of Gene’s vision of humanity’s future, my historian pal, Justin Clark’s recent essay provides some excellent context:
“Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, wanted to make a thrilling, but intelligent science fiction series, in the vein of shows like The Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits. But where those shows often displayed the worst that humanity was capable of, Roddenberry wanted to show humanity at its best. He wanted to put together a crew of a starship that was diverse— not just in race or ethnicity, but in species— who would use their brain, as well as their conscience, to solve problems. Out of these ideas came a 1964 pilot, which was rejected, but in a twist tailor-made for television drama, Roddenberry’s idea was given a second chance, and another pilot was made. That pilot, titled “Where No Man has Gone Before,” was successful and from it Star Trek was born. While the original series only ran for 3 seasons before being canceled in 1969, it became a massive success in syndication and spawned a movie series, multiple television series, and endured as the pop-culture juggernaut we know today.”
THE HUMANISM OF STAR TREK: WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE FINAL FRONTIER - March 6, 2023
Gardens of the galaxy
Gardens have always featured in Star Trek in some form or other right from the pilot episode The Cage. Below is a screen-grab of Captain Pike and crew who land on an unknown planet to find to their surprise disc like violet blooms that apparently buzz at their own frequency. The intentional vision of a garden is almost always for the planet itself to convey its potential, to persuade the explorers to stay, or to predictably, play out as a site for seduction, optical trickery and/ or betrayal.
More recently in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, just for a few seconds of screen time, we are shown a space station with an arboretum within biomes and biospheres equipped with lakes where Dr. M'Benga goes fly-fishing!
The outline of the space-station’s biome can be seen behind the actor Anson Mount in Season 1 Episode 5. Also, his hair! Give this man everything!
So…what was I saying? Oh right, Outer Space perfume! This question of whether space has a smell or not has been explored by scientists over the years. Astronauts for instance, note a charred smell each time they return from their space-walk and seal the door behind them.
“A succession of astronauts have described the smell as ‘… a rather pleasant metallic sensation ... [like] ... sweet-smelling welding fumes’, ‘burning metal’, ‘a distinct odour of ozone, an acrid smell’, ‘walnuts and brake pads’, ‘gunpowder’ and even ‘burnt almond cookie’.” — The smells of space, Australian Academy of Science
I took this acrid note into account and went further towards the Milky Way where around 50 molecules in the Sagittarius dust cloud near the centre of this galaxy have been identified. One key chemical is ethyl formate (C3H6O2) which here on earth, is responsible for the smell and flavour of raspberries!
“This compound smells like rum and is a component that contributes to what gives raspberries their flavor. So with 10 billion billion billion liters, every hour can be happy hour, just as long as your drink of choice is raspberry rum.” — Next Stop: the Universe By Jason McCracken, June 21, 2013
Now the perfume composition came together in my head: Juniper + Smoke + Charred Lily of the valley + Black Tea CO2 + Poplar Buds CO2 + Hint of Raspberry + Galaxolide (musk). I tested it out today and it’s really something!
I’ll recap what’s in stock:
Perfume- Outer Space, Rose, Imported Cherries, Banana Leaf: $75/6ml each
Incense- Sandalwood & Heliotrope, Nutmeg & Sandalwood, Rose & Saffron Sherbet: $30/ set of 30 sticks
Hailing Frequencies Are Open🖖
Love this!