Tangible scent

London – Digital artist Lucy Hardcastle has produced a series of abstract artworks that examine the nature of scent.

• The virtual exhibition is divided into four rooms – Mist, Molten, Beam and Soft
• It features a soundscape composed by musician Fatima Al Qadiri and Chinese pop star Li Yuchun

Intangible Material is a new work for Chanel and i-D magazine’s The Fifth Sense project, which uses WebGL, a javascript application programming interface (API), to create interactive 3D graphics based on fragrance. The abstract pieces play with viewers’ senses and slowly introduce digital sculptures that visualise the nature of scent.

The hyper-real digital objects take on a variety of forms, from smooth polished metal to molten lava, and change their form as the viewer interacts with the work.

‘This medium truly is a way of making the impossible possible. It felt like there were no limits in terms of how we could physicalise fragrance in a way that hadn’t been done before,’ Hardcastle tells LS:N Global. ‘I chose this digital medium to convey texture and sensuality.’