Labor
Paul Vanouse (US)
How does work smell? Labor is a dynamic, self-regulating art installation in which the smell of sweat is produced without any human effort. The body odor is artificially produced in glass bioreactors in which special human skin bacteria grow. While these bacteria metabolize simple sugars and fats, they produce smells reminiscent of human sweat. A white T-shirt in the center of the installation picks up the "scent" and stores it in its fibers. Paul Vanouse's "sweat stain prints” shown in the exhibition, are also based on the sweaty T-shirt – the icon of wage labor, stress and exploitation: Freshly sweaty shirts were dusted with charcoal and pressed between paper under high pressure.
