Created by Alexine Sierro at ECAL, Spira Memoriae is an immersive olfactory experience in virtual reality that invites the user to traverse a fragmented sensory world. Original perfumes, created in collaboration with perfumer Tennessee Macdougall, extend this reflection through the language of scent. Acting as markers within an abstract landscape, they reveal rare materials, sometimes lost, but still present in collective memory. Born from a reflection on olfactory memory (wiki), Spira Memoriae explores the tensions between disappearance and persistence, industry and territory, reality and reconstruction. Here, scent becomes a vector of storytelling, transmission, and shared fiction.
In a world where ecosystems are vanishing and certain scents are evaporating, what becomes of the places and stories that once gave them shape?
Alexine Sierro
The installation consists of three modules designed to precisely diffuse a scented breeze directed toward the user at key moments in the virtual reality narration. Each module is made of transparent Plexiglas (plates and tubes) and complemented by custom 3D-printed parts integrating the diffusion system.
Each module contains a distinct fragrance and is equipped with a fan controlled by a Lolin C3 Pico board running on Arduino. The boards receive OSC signals from an interactive control software, ensuring synchronization with the VR player inside the headset. This setup guarantees precise coordination between the visual environment and the olfactory emission. The entire system is powered by a single electrical source, distributed among the modules through centralized management. The visuals displayed in the headset are point clouds created in Blender using Geometry Nodes.
Alexine Sierro | ECAL Media & Interaction Design
