Flying Molecules

Flying Molecules: A Fragrant and Colorful Provocation of BC in Urban Soils

Mid November, 2022 @LMCC on Governors Island as part of USI’s Urban Soils Symposium, I installed a provocation of Black Carbon (BC) in urban soils.

A mound of deepest ebony lump charcoal sat beside 36 overturned terra cotta finger pots which, when lifted, released fragrant Mitti Attar.

BC refers to “the remnants of fire that tenaciously hold on in soils.”* Mitti is an enduring aroma evoking the smell of rainfall on parched earth. It’s an ingredient used by perfumers and is made from broken clay vessels. @itsjoeyrosin of DS&Durga suggested we use it when I stopped by the store and asked him for a scent that was like the breath of soils - an imagined faintly smoky fragrance of BC soils.

Colors smell.

I wanted to jointly mix up a scent evoking the biogeochemial cycle up close just as it begins, as Harold McGee writes in Nose Dive, to diffuse into the open air. Being the musician he is, Joey was game to jump onto the playground and jam with me.

I didn’t set out to focus on odor molecules or the performance of making a fragrance and showcasing an accord (though it was fantastic and expansive since I’m low key a perfume nut) but it’s a wonderful way into this topic that I’ve been thinking about for some time thanks to the good work of USDA-NRCS soil scientist Richard Shaw and NYRP Northern Manhattan Parks Director, *Jason Smith.