the birthplace of her grandfather (1916)
This exhibition presents the second embodiment of work, titled
’(the Act of) Smell-ing’—deriving from Ros’ research-based project My
Self, the (Unfamiliar) Roots, which she started in 2023 in Indonesia, the
birthplace of her grandfather (1916). This second embodiment of work
focuses on olfactory memory as a carrier of ancestral connections in
relation to roots. This residency at Galeri Lorong in Yogyakarta follows on
from the first incarnation ‘(the Act of) Uprooting’, which took place in
Indonesia and the Netherlands in 2023–2024.
The key insight during Ros’ artistic journey in 2024 was connecting
with roots through ‘odor’, smelling and the ‘olfactory system’—which are
directly related to ancestral memory, (unfamiliar) roots, and the earliest
moments of fetal identification in the womb. Ancestral memory suggests
that experiences from past generations can influence subsequent
generations through genetic inheritance or cultural transmission, often
unconsciously.
‘(the Act of) Smell-ing’.
In 2025, she continues this exploration and moves to a second
manifestation: ‘(the Act of) Smell-ing’. With this, she deepens her research
on identity by focusing on smelling, the olfactory organ, and odor as
sensory connections to (unfamiliar) roots. She also delves into the domain
of scent as a carrier of ancestral memories. She investigates if scent, the
olfactory organ, and smell connect us to landscapes, histories, and
emotions from the past.
Following this key insight, in her final days in Bandung in 2024,
Ros began exploring her scent trail by eliminating artificial scents from her
daily routine and training her sense of smell. She then realized that she
had never encountered her own unique odor print (comparable to a
fingerprint)—perhaps since birth. A confronting moment. This realization
immediately prompted her to refrain from showering, wearing freshly
laundered clothes, or using any scented products, allowing her natural
scent to surface and potentially activate olfactory memory.
Ros continued experimenting throughout 2025, combining
personal practice with literature research and exchanges with others. This
gave her practice essential depth, allowing her to explore her olfactory
knowledge in a sustained and profound way. This represents a shift from
her earlier visual-tactile explorations toward a deeper engagement with
olfactory knowledge.
Residency Yogyakarta
As part her residency and the exhibition at Galeri Lorong in
Yogyakarta, Ros revisits her natural odor print by repeating her
performance experiment of eliminating artificial scents for one week, first
practiced in Bandung, 2024. Abstinence performance experiment; started
August 22, 2025 on 16:00 GMT+7 (last shower). Reveal odor print at
exhibition opening on August 29, 2025 during live performance started at
19:00 GMT+7. The duration of performance experiment 168 hours + 3
hours. Total is 171 hours.
In addition, she initiates a participatory performance experiment: during
the exhibition opening on August 29, 2025, a small group of visitors will
receive new, white T-shirts. They are invited to wear the shirts continuously
for at least 24-hours. Thus, no changing into another shirt (even during
sleeping time), abstain from showering and bathing, abstain from wearing
synthetic scents, such as perfume, cologne, deodorant, body lotion,
cleaning detergents etcetera. On the last day of the exhibition, August 31,
2025, the participants will return still wearing the T-shirts, now imbued with
personal odor, and hand them over to Lisette Ros. These particular T-
shirts become both material and archive for her ongoing research into
odor as a form of identity related to ancestors. The participatory
performance means the start of building smell/odor archive.
(Dutch-Indo)
Lisette Ros, an Indo (Dutch-Indo) conceptual and performance
artist, uses her body simultaneously as tool, material and resource for
research. Ros’ work is conditioned by fundamental structures rooted in
our primary and everyday behaviors and serves as an inquiry into identity:
who or what am I?
For Ros, performance art is fundamentally a multi-sensory,
therapeutic, and ephemeral activity. It's a challenging position in a society
focused on materiality, alternative intelligence, and heredity. Her thirst for
understanding humanity and the various stages of well-being must
transcend her body. From this perspective, performance art which
includes all senses can be very helpful. While the physical is central, the
conceptual aspect remains paramount, producing interdisciplinary results
that transcend traditional boundaries.
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