Hidden Vibes

A garden that throws its own party.

Nobody around. In, then. The sneaky creak of a rusty gate, gravel underfoot, a branch snagging a sleeve and the jolt that comes with it. Then the whole place kicks into life. The fountain keeps a trickling rhythm and the beehive hums like a lo-fi boom box behind it. Dusky roses headbang in the breeze, drunk on their own fabulousness.

Ambrette carries a faintly musky skin. Patchouli keeps the earth in it, damp and dark. Rose comes through full-throated and jasmine sambac sweetens behind it. Powdery musk settles over the top of the whole symphony.

NOISE builds fragrances the way a record gets built. Sound comes first and everything follows from it: the three tiers on every product page are treble, mid and bass, and a play button sits beside every bottle. Sound shapes the world before anyone is born, and the familiar mixed with the unexpected goes straight past the intellect and into the deepest corners of the mind. Sound, sight and memory are the three powers the work draws on.

The work is made in France and handed to a rotating cast of noses that has included Bertrand Duchaufour, Mark Buxton and David Chieze. The subjects are ordinary on purpose: a rusty garden gate, an elevator ride, the gap left after a song ends. Each one is designed to make its own mark and not to be forgotten.