Project: nOsense

A Multidisciplinary Olfactory Archaeology of Memory

Artist: Lisa Rommé

Concept: nOsense is an immersive, multidisciplinary installation born during the 2020-2021

pandemic art-residency at ACME (London). The title reflects the cognitive dissonance of

that era: a state where heightened sensory awareness yielded "no sense,

" transforming

lived experience into "nonsense.

" The project explores the fragmentation of memory and

the body’s capacity to archive the invisible through scent, our most enduring mnemonic

medium. Inspired by Proust’s "madeleine,

" the work investigates how we represent the

shards of our past and how others perceive these translated intimacies.

The Installation: A Total Immersion

The project functions as a contemporary "cabinet of curiosities,

" sacralizing ephemeral

experiences as relics. The installation is a total immersion, integrating sculpture,

handcrafted engravings, bespoke furniture, sound, and olfaction. It consists of 4 to 6

custom-designed wooden furniture pieces acting as pedestals for scented sculptures.

These polymer clay forms, reminiscent of draperies, support glass objects and are bathed

in soft, shifting colored lights.

The visual narrative is complemented by a series of linocuts, hand-carved by the artist.

These engravings draw conceptual inspiration from Gilles Deleuze’s The Fold: Leibniz and

the Baroque, where the "drapery" represents the infinite folds of the soul and the

complexity of perception. The titles are further informed by John Koenig’s Dictionary of

Obscure Sorrows, creating a dialogue between Baroque philosophy and modern

emotional nomenclature.

Scent and Sound: The Sacral Medium

Sound plays a pivotal role in the interactive experience. Composer Nicolas Rommé

created a contemporary electronic soundscape reflecting each individual sculpture. The

composition weaves together echoes of a church organ and "angelic" voices with

distorted audio interference from the past, emphasizing the instability of memory.

The olfactory component acts as the unifying force. The artist utilizes a sacred palette of

frankincense, myrrh, and various traditional incense infusions typically used during

religious mass. By immersing the space in these ancestral scents, the work bypasses

rational explanation to activate a direct, embodied experience of uncertainty and

ritualistic comfort.

Symbolism and Conclusion

Drawing from the aesthetics of classical memorials, the sculptures function as sarcophagi

for "trophies" of London life. The drapery-covered pedestals reference the burials of

monarchs, yet many remain empty, expressing the suspended moments of 2020.

nOsense challenges the viewer to confront the limits of their own recollection, making

the "archaeology of the invisible" tangible through a multisensory encounter.