When you visit the North Sea, what do you smell, beside seaweed, crabs and jellyfish? A chip shop by the promenade, blast furnaces and sunblock. Fragrance designer Frank Bloem researching smells of the sea and has created an archive of forty sea smells. The aim is to identify smells that make the North Sea smell as it does. What marine life contributes to the overall smell? What do smells like tar, fuel oil, diesel and lubricating oil do to this smell sensation and what do they do to us? For his research work, Frank Bloem can be found wandering the coastline and accompanying fishermen and soil scientists to collect a variety of smell samples from the North Sea, and to translate them into a portable smelling set.
During this sea smell exhibition, Sniffing at the sea on the beach at Scheveningen, Frank Bloem will join visitors in the search for new smells.
Photo’s: Rik van Santen and Hollandse Hoogte/ Laurens van Putten
