Single Channel Digital Video Animation, Resin & Bronze Sculpture, Fragrance
00:09:00 (4 chapters, 00:02:14 each)
Other Known Tomorrows (OTK) is a multisensory artwork comprising a fragrance, sculpture, and animation developed in collaboration with Dr. Ying Wu, a cognitive neuroscientist at UC San Diego’s Institute for Neural Computation. Dr. Wu’s research examines higher-order cognition at the intersection of mind, brain, and body, and together we explore how scent can serve as an emotional bridge between memory and imagined futures.
In the project, we recorded the brainwave activity of a diverse group of participants as they engaged with a range of scents, reflecting on personal memories and speculative futures. This cortical data informs both the visual structure of the video animation and the formulation of the OTK fragrance—a layered composition that unfolds over time. As the scent transitions through top, middle, and base notes, it invites the viewer to construct a sensory narrative linking the past to potential futures.
The project’s title—and the lyrics of its accompanying sound composition—draw inspiration from a 1933 poem by Spanish poet Pedro Salinas. While researching the neuroscience of olfaction, I encountered references to the “Proust Effect,” the phenomenon by which scent evokes vivid autobiographical memories. Tracing this concept through psychological literature on nostalgia led me to a paper citing Salinas’s verse: “The motivational potency of nostalgia: the future is called yesterday.” This poetic and scientific dialogue between scent, memory, and futurity lies at the heart of Other Known Tomorrows.
Many thanks to the Simons Foundation Open Interval Program for supporting this project.
Pedro Salinas, #17 from My Voice Because of You, 1933
