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Visual Smell Wheel: Scents of the Amazonian Chemospace

Format: Video recording
Due to the high alkaloid content of Brugmansia plants, extracting essential oils from it requires large amounts of plant material which can derive into a toxic mix. Therefore, this work seeks to create an olfactory experience of the expanded chemospace where Brugmansia plants live and thrive. The smell of various plants used in this work is associated with facilitating healing of both humans and soils, and supprt biosocial exchanges among forest communities. A selection of essential oils extracts and macerated plant mixes were made from plants found in medicinal Chagras: Chondur, Cullanguiyo and Mastranto, among others with support from local farmers and medicine men and women from Putumayo Colombia and Madre de Dios, Peru. Camino Verde reforestation Station and Moena Botanicals provided some of the base ingredients prepared as as essential Oils. Camino Verde is a regeneration project in the Peruvian Amazon that addresses deforestation by supporting smallholder farmers and restoring ecosystems. Through agroforestry and community partnerships, it produces pure, small-batch essential oils from native plants. These regenerative products help rebuild biodiversity and promote a thriving future for people and nature.
2024


Acknowledgements:

Additional Support from Prohelvetia Southamerica

Amazon Aid Foundation,

Studio Verde AIR

ACEER Founddation and Camino Verde.

Institutional credits:

A collaboration with Camino Verde and Moena Botanicals. Madre de Dios, Peru. Realized in the framework of Plants_Intelligence. Learning like a Plant, a research project funded by SNSF and hosted by Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW. Co-commissioned by Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg and supported by Stiftung Niedersachsen.

Year of creation:

2024/2025

Technical info:

Fragances:

Chondur and Brugmansia  macerate from Putumayo, mixed with Moena Alcanforada escential oil from Madre de Dios.

Khuña Muña (Andean Mint), Palo Santo and Cedrón (Lemon Verbena) and Albahaca Santa (Holy Basil) oil extract mixed.

Contributors:

Produciton Assistant in Colombia: Azucena Olaya. Production and Coordination in Peru: Robin Van Loon (Camino Verde).

Equipment specifications:

Dispersed via sprays and  difussers. All scents derived from plant material collected with permission of Indigenous and original carers.

Additional funding form:

Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg and Stiftung Niedersachsen.

Tags

Agroforestry reforestation Amazonian plant knowledge Biosocial exchanges Brugmansia alkaloids Essential oil extraction Ethnobotanical practices Expanded chemospace Medicinal Chagras Olfactory experience Regenerative essential oils werke felipe plant_intelligence

Queries

Werke - Plant_Intelligence - Felipe Werke - Plant_Intelligence Werke catalog - Artistic catalog - Education catalog - HGK catalog - mediathek catalog - Network

Full spec

DateAdded
2026-02-02T08:51:18Z
DateModified
2026-02-02T08:51:18Z
Key
EVJKJ9MF
Rights
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
SeriesTitle
Olfatory Works [related to the series Neither Green Nor Planted]
Handle
20.500.11806/med/4c4p-xs5h-bk