Nordforsk (NOS-HS) exploratory workshop in Ålesund/Runde

Invitation and call for papers: Workshop on Olfactory Cultural Studies
Locations: Runde Environmental Centre + Atlanterhavsparken Aquarium and science museum

Call for papers and participation

With support from Nordforsk, we are happy to announce a call for papers and participation in an exploratory three-day workshop in “olfactory cultural studies”. This is the first workshop in a series of three independent yet related workshops across different Nordic countries, with a general objective to develop and investigate methodologies to explore how olfactory phenomena are conceptualised and contribute to meaning-making. The remaining two workshops will be organised in Denmark and in Finland in 2024, with calls to be released in due course.

We invite a broad variety of contributions, both in shape/form and disciplinary origin (see below).

The workshops centre on the significance of odours and the meanings ascribed to them, both in different physical environments and in media representations, thus complementing multisensory, multimodal cultural studies. To address the olfactory cultural dynamics at stake, the workshops are guided by three main research questions:

a) How are different environmental odours made meaningful?
b) How are olfactory phenomena conceptualised and represented in art and the media?
c) How do olfactory phenomena participate in the construction of social and cultural identities?

Programme

The workshops are designed to combine ethnographic, experimental and textual research, structured as follows:

Day 1 - Ethnographic exercise: “marine autumn/summer-time olfactowalk” at Runde bird island, followed by methodological and theoretical reflection.

Day 2 - Experimental exercise at the Atlanterhavsparken Aquarium and Marine Science Museum in Ålesund, on the theme “wake up and smell the fish”. The exercise seeks to share and develop knowledge by exploring aesthetic and analytic sense experiences in an encounter between researchers and museum communicators. The exercise draws perspectives from a range of disciplines to highlight the potential for the sensory perception of smell in the domain of the marine.

Day 3 - Seminar session with participants’ presentations on the theme of roles of smell (olfaction) from their respective perspectives. Olfaction/smell is here to be broadly conceptualised.

Submissions and registration

Proposals of a maximum of 3000 words are welcomed with deadline 1 May 2023 via email to olfactory.cultures@gmail.com, see call for submissions. The proposals form the basis for the seminar session (Day 3) and therefore should address its theme. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by the end of May 2023.

Travel, accommodation, and costs

Costs for accommodation, meals and local transport are covered by the project and there is no registration fee. Participants must organise and cover their travel to Ålesund, but the project has available a limited number of travel bursaries of up to €500.

• Arrival Sun 3 Sep: Joint transport from Ålesund to Runde island, afternoon/early evening
• Departure Wed 6 Sep: Joint transport from Runde to Ålesund, lunchtime 

Accommodation in apartments at Runde Environmental Centre.
Travel route for participant arriving by plane: Most convenient route is flight to Ålesund airport (AES) followed by bus to Ålesund.

The organisers will be in touch with the participants regarding pick-up time/place.

Organisers

PI Professor Antti-Ville Villén, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland (Visiting Fellow, University of Cambridge, UK)

Associate Professor Erik Cyrus Fooladi, Volda University College, Norway

Professor Anu Hopia, University of Turku, Finland

Associate Professor Qian Janice Wang, University of Copenhagen, Denmark