Organoleptic (An)Archive of NHS

2017 — 2019


Research

or·gan·o·lep·tic | ˌȯr-gə-nō-ˈlep-tik

1 : being, affecting, or relating to qualities (such as taste, color, odor, and feel) of a substance (such as a food or drug) that stimulate the sense organs
organoleptic research
2 : involving use of the sense organs


Breathing is a shared act. We all breathe from the same air and, exhaling and inhaling, share aspirational practices. 

The research and work followed the treatment of tangled blood vessels in the brain, or arteriovenous malformations, through an embolisation procedure performed by the Neuroradiology team at Western General Hospital’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience. In this process, a glue-like substance is introduced into the brain which changes the smell of the breaths of both neuroradiologist and patient. As there is no “opening-up” of the body, the procedure leaves no visible scars and this so-called “Onyx smell”, which lingers in the wards after the intervention, is the only physical indicator of the operation that took place.

In collaboration with the Neuroradiologgy Department at Western General Hospital (Edinburgh), Joy Milne and Alison Williams.  


  
   

   



Breath (2017-2018)
Produced from patient and neuroradiologist breaths, following an AVM intervention



The main molecule responsible for this odour is also a key component in the smell of so-called “carrion flowers” and other vegetable bodies. Engaging with the sensory experiences of a community of neurosurgeons, patients and nurses, the work explores the use of smells as hyperlinks to consider experiences and relations between medical spaces and botanic gardens, once medicinal gardens.


   




Throughout this process, a sensory dialogue was developed with Joy Milne, the woman who is known to detect Parkinson’s disease through smell, and Alison Williams, a researcher who has PD herself.  Discussions were set-up around the smell of the disease, other ways of talking about the body and the hostility of the hospital suit vs. the patient’s experience. In April 2019, a symposium was held at Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh titled ‘Talking Bodies’ exploring other sense-able approaches to wellbeing. 


Alison Williams and Joy Milne discussing work on distilling Parkinson’s Disease and readdressing the patient’s suit. 
Talking Bodies event at Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, 2019


   




The work also included the consultation of NHS Lothian’s Neurosurgeon Norman Dott’s archive, explorations on the unseen hospital environment, working with dust images and staging storysmelling sessions, togrther with DCN Language & Cognition Fellow Gavin Inglis




Dust prints
Dott Operating Theatre
Western General Hospital, 2017


Storysmelling
w/ Gavin Inglis
Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2017
              

             


Research developed during the Arts & Therapeutic Design Fellowship at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience NHS Lothian (Einburgh), 2017 — 2019.