Action #9

Fine fragrances festival

ENTER A TRAIN CARRIAGE AT PEAK HOUR. PRETEND NOT TO KNOW THE OTHER PLAYERS. CARRY TWO MANDARINS/ORANGES AND TWO PHIALS WITH DIFFERENT ESSENTIAL OILS. AT REGULAR INTERVALS THROUGHOUT THE JOURNEY, TIMED BY ONE OF THE PLAYERS:
(SLOWLY) PEEL AND EAT THE FIRST MANDARIN;
SPRAY ONE ESSENTIAL OIL;
SPRAY THE SECOND ESSENTIAL OIL;
(SLOWLY) PEEL AND EAT THE SECOND MANDARIN.

workshop in Groningen © Cie Yan Duyvendak

Festival folfactif

ENTRER DANS UN TRAIN À L’HEURE DE POINTE ET SE DISPERSER DANS UN WAGON. FEINDRE DE NE PAS CONNAÎTRE LES AUTRES JOUEUR.EUSE.S. PRENDRE DEUX MANDARINES/ORANGES ET DEUX FIOLES AVEC DES HUILES ESSENTIELLES. REGULIÈREMENT AU COURS DU TRAJET, SUR L’IMPULSION D’UN.E JOUEUR.EUSE, DIFFUSER DES ODEURS :
PELER ET MANGER UNE MANDARINE ;
DIFFUSER UNE HUILE ESSENTIELLE ;
DIFFUSER UNE DEUXIÈME HUILE ESSENTIELLE ;
PELER ET MANGER UNE DEUXIÈME MANDARINE

Goede geuren gestival 

STAP IN DEZELFDE COUPÉ VAN EEN TREIN. DOE ALSOF JE DE ANDERE SPELERS NIET KENT.NEEM TWEE MANDARIJNEN EN TWEE FLESJES ESSENTIËLE OLIE MEE. VERSPREID OVER DE TOTALE REISTIJD, GETIMED DOOR EEN VAN DE SPELERS:
PEL EN EET (LANGZAAM) EEN MANDARIJN;
SPRAY DE EERSTE ESSENTIËLE OLIE;
SPRAY DE TWEEDE ESSENTIËLE OLIE;
PEL EN EET (LANGZAAM) DE TWEEDE MANDARIJN. STAP INDIVIDUEEL UIT OP BESTEMMING EN TREF ELKAAR VER VAN HET STATION.

Personal Accounts

2 Comments

  1. (Based on older version)
    At the first whiff of mandarin, I see a number of people look around to see who’s eating it.
    The mint tea comes next. You can’t smell anything. It’s so bizarre to see three people standing in the carriage (the train was packed) stirring huge cups of mint tea.
    Then comes the coffee. I don’t see who starts it, nor can I see the coffee. I can only SMELL it. People are responding again, which is logical: you can usually smell coffee at the beginning of the journey, not halfway through it.
    A lady is casting angry looks at Karijn and Yan (although I’m not sure: maybe she always looks angry). A man stares at the three, then looks around to see if other people are smelling it too (or so it seems) and catches my eye. I can hardly keep from laughing.
    Merel is sitting diagonally behind me. When she actually starts drinking her coffee-and-mint, she gets some looks from the men in front of her. The second mandarin series is also priceless.
    It’s wonderful to be part of the confusion, of the travellers’ “do-you-also-smell-that-too?” inquiry, while also knowing what is going on, ‘invisibly’.

  2. It felt like a fresh lemony zing in life to come back to Goa and do some invisible games here. It was quite literally lemony, because I was part of a group doing the Fine Fragrance Festival score. In India, there are usually a lot of smells (good and bad ones) that waft our way. In a 10-minute walk outside, one could experience the scents of flowers in bloom, open sewers, hot-fried savoury samosas, cow-dung, freshly-ground spices, coconut hair oil, petrol fumes and petrichor. Oh well, maybe this is the case in other parts of the world too. But since we were in the India that I know to be full of hectic olfactory distractions, it was perfect to do this in the bus coming from Mapusa to Panjim. Passengers are usually returning from work, mostly looking out the window after a whole day of looking at screens. There are not many distractions with open dry grasslands on either side of the highway. In our half-hour journey, we had three fragrances to open – one orange and two vials of essential oils. We spaced ourselves on seats across the entire bus. It was quite tricky at first to do the various things together – coordinate with the others on whatsapp, manage the slush of orange in my hand, observe others but not too obviously. But soon enough I got the hang of it, when I decided to just have a good time, throw a festival and deal with the orange by eating it and sharing it with the lady sitting next to me. It led to a beautiful conversation with a stranger that I would otherwise have never had. 😊 There were all kinds of responses to the fragrances we were secretly exuding – some people were puzzled, but before they could figure out what the fragrance was, we would change to the next fragrance. I learnt from one of the other players. that there were even some who disliked it the smell, and where scrunching their noses casting angry looks. By the time the bus journey ended, I felt we were just getting started!
    The fine fragrances festival like the other invisible actions we did was a fun way to be lifted beyond the humdrum of our cities, tantalize the senses, awaken the spirit, generate a sense of play and keep questions alive.

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