Peter de Cupere

Peter de Cupere is a Belgian artist, researcher, curator, and educator known for making olfactory art: work in which smell is not merely an accompanying atmosphere but the principal artistic medium. Born in Leuven in 1970, he lives and works in Antwerp. His practice expands the conventional idea of visual art by asking audiences to navigate, interpret, remember, and physically engage with works through smell, while also incorporating taste, touch, sound, movement, and technological interfaces. De Cupere's work has developed across installations, mobile projects, sensory devices, exhibitions, publications, and collaborative research. A recurring concern is the way smell can trigger memory, shape a sense of place, and influence perception without being directly visible. His projects often make the audience an active participant: visitors may be asked to identify scents, follow an odor trail, handle scent-bearing objects, or experience food and materials through a restricted visual field. This approach has made his work relevant to contemporary art, design, sensory studies, food culture, and experimental technology rather than to a conventional consumer-products category. Technology and collaboration are important parts of his practice. In collaboration with Cartamundi, he developed Olfactio, a scent-related artistic and technological project. With Gluon, Callebaut, and chocolatier Patrick Mertens, he created Cocoa 5 Senses, linking chocolate to multisensory perception. Between 1997 and 2004 he developed Olfactiano, described as the first working scent piano, translating the structure of a musical instrument into an apparatus for releasing or organizing smells. Among his best-known sensory devices are The Blind Smell Stick and The Blind Smell Touch, developed in 2012. These works propose that people can locate themselves, recognize objects, or experience food through smell and touch rather than relying primarily on sight. They were first exhibited at the World Creativity Biennale in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. His broader body of work includes mobile and participatory formats, such as The Olfactory, a travelling container project that presented 33 one-day olfactory-art exhibitions across seven weeks in 2014. De Cupere is also active as a curator. In 2015 he initiated The Smell of War, an exhibition that brought together olfactory artists including Maki Ueda, Clara Ursitti, Christophe Laudamiel, Oswaldo Macia, and Lisa Kirk. The project used smell to address conflict, memory, danger, and the sensory dimensions of political history. In 2014 he authored and signed The Olfactory Art Manifest, connecting his practice to earlier attempts to establish smell as a legitimate artistic medium. He signed the document with an extract of his own bodily smell, turning authorship and embodiment into part of the work. His educational and research activities include teaching at PXL-MAD School of Arts in Hasselt, Belgium, where he has been associated with the Open Lab and work concerning smell, taste, touch, and other approximate senses. He has undertaken doctoral research in collaboration with Hasselt University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and holds multiple fine-arts qualifications. His publication Scent in Context: Olfactory Art appeared in 2016, while The Smell of War is also associated with his curatorial and publishing activity. De Cupere's career therefore combines artistic production, sensory experimentation, curating, pedagogy, and research into the cultural role of smell.

Peter de Cupere was born in Leuven, Belgium, in 1970 and developed his career within contemporary art, with a specialization in olfactory and multisensory practice. His formal training included fine-arts study at PIKOH Fine Arts in Hasselt, the Higher Institute Sint Lucas in Brussels, and the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp. He also participated in programs at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. These experiences provided a basis for a practice that combines studio experimentation, installation, research, and public participation. From the late 1990s onward, De Cupere concentrated on making smell function as an autonomous artistic medium. Between 1997 and 2004 he developed Olfactiano, a working scent piano. The project treated odor as something that could be organized and performed analogously to musical notes, challenging the dominance of sight and sound in Western exhibition culture. Rather than presenting fragrance as a decorative addition, the work proposed that scent could have structure, rhythm, sequence, and compositional logic. His later projects increasingly connected olfactory art with technology and collaborative design. Olfactio, developed with Cartamundi, explored technical means of delivering or organizing smell. Cocoa 5 Senses, made with Gluon, Callebaut, and chocolatier Patrick Mertens, connected chocolate with a broader sensory vocabulary. These collaborations positioned his work between contemporary art, food experimentation, product design, and scientific inquiry. In 2012 De Cupere developed The Blind Smell Stick and The Blind Smell Touch. These devices invited users to orient themselves and engage with objects or food through smell and touch. Their first exhibition at the World Creativity Biennale in Rio de Janeiro demonstrated the artist's interest in participation and in the perceptual possibilities of temporarily reducing dependence on vision. The works also suggested that smell can be practical as well as expressive: it can guide, identify, evoke, and communicate. De Cupere expanded his public and curatorial activities in the mid-2010s. The Olfactory, created in 2014, used a travelling container to host 33 one-day exhibitions in seven weeks. Its mobility challenged the fixed museum or gallery model and allowed olfactory art to be encountered in changing contexts. In the same year, he wrote The Olfactory Art Manifest. He signed the document with a small extract made from collected bodily smells, making the artist's body and personal odor part of the work's material and conceptual foundation. The manifesto was later shown in exhibitions including Belle Haleine: The Scent of Art at the Tinguely Museum in Basel and There's Something in the Air! at Villa Rot in Burgrieden. In 2015 he initiated The Smell of War, a curatorial project involving other olfactory artists such as Maki Ueda, Clara Ursitti, Christophe Laudamiel, Oswaldo Macia, and Lisa Kirk. The exhibition demonstrated how scent can address subjects that are difficult to represent visually, including danger, trauma, military history, and collective memory. The project also reinforced De Cupere's role as a field-builder who supports olfactory art beyond his own studio. Alongside exhibition-making, De Cupere has pursued research and education. He has been affiliated with PXL-MAD School of Arts in Hasselt as a tutor and researcher and has been associated with the Open Lab, where smell, taste, touch, and related senses are used as tools for artistic investigation. His doctoral research was conducted through collaboration involving PXL-MAD, Hasselt University, and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His teaching and research frame olfactory art as an interdisciplinary field rather than a niche form of fragrance production. His 2016 publication Scent in Context: Olfactory Art, issued by Stockmans Publishers, consolidated the intellectual and practical dimensions of his work. Across installations, devices, exhibitions, writings, and teaching, De Cupere's continuing contribution is to treat smell as a subject with cultural history and as a medium capable of carrying memory, emotion, orientation, social meaning, and artistic form. The available reference material does not establish a separate commercial company, legal entity, product business, or current corporate ownership behind the name; it identifies an individual artist and educator whose projects are generally produced through artistic and institutional collaborations.

1. 2016Scent in Context: Olfactory Art published

   Stockmans Publishers released De Cupere's book Scent in Context: Olfactory Art.

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2. 2015The Smell of War initiated

   De Cupere initiated and curated The Smell of War exhibition.

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3. 2014The Olfactory and Olfactory Art Manifest

   De Cupere created the travelling project The Olfactory and wrote The Olfactory Art Manifest, signing it with an extract of collected bodily smells.

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4. 2012Blind Smell devices introduced

   The Blind Smell Stick and The Blind Smell Touch were developed and first exhibited at the World Creativity Biennale in Rio de Janeiro.

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5. 2004Olfactiano development period concludes

   The development period for the working scent piano Olfactiano extended to 2004.

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6. 1997Development of Olfactiano begins

   De Cupere began developing Olfactiano, a scent piano that remained in development through 2004.

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7. 1970Birth in Leuven

   Peter de Cupere was born in Leuven, Belgium.

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An experimental contemporary-art practice centered on smell as an artistic, social, technological, and mnemonic medium.

• OlfactianoOlfactory installation and instrument1997

  Olfactiano is a scent piano developed by De Cupere from 1997 to 2004. It translates the conceptual structure of a piano into an apparatus for arranging or releasing smells. The work is important within his practice because it treats odor as a compositional medium with sequence and organization, rather than as an invisible accessory to a visual installation.

• The Blind Smell StickInteractive sensory device2012

  The Blind Smell Stick is a sensory artwork designed to let participants explore orientation and surroundings through smell. It shifts attention away from visual navigation and toward the nose as a tool for recognition and wayfinding. The device was developed in 2012 and first exhibited at the World Creativity Biennale in Rio de Janeiro.

• The Blind Smell TouchInteractive multisensory artwork2012

  The Blind Smell Touch complements the Blind Smell Stick by combining smell and touch in the experience of objects and food. It invites visitors to use non-visual senses as primary channels of interpretation and demonstrates De Cupere's interest in accessible, participatory, and embodied art experiences.

• OlfactioScent technology project

  Olfactio is a technology-oriented olfactory-art project developed in collaboration with Cartamundi. The available reference material identifies it as an invention within De Cupere's practice but does not provide enough detail to characterize its commercial format, technical specifications, or market availability.

• Cocoa 5 SensesMultisensory food-art project

  Cocoa 5 Senses was developed with Gluon, Callebaut, and chocolatier Patrick Mertens. The project uses chocolate as a platform for exploring multiple senses, connecting food design with olfactory art and participatory perception. It is described as a collaborative artistic invention rather than a standard packaged consumer product.

• 2015The Smell of War

  International contemporary-art exhibition circuit

  De Cupere initiated and curated The Smell of War, an exhibition involving multiple olfactory artists and examining how smell can evoke conflict, danger, history, and memory.

  Outcome. The exhibition positioned olfactory art as a medium for addressing political and historical themes.

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• 2014The Olfactory

  International contemporary-art and public-exhibition contexts

  The Olfactory was a travelling container project that presented 33 one-day olfactory-art exhibitions during a seven-week journey. Its mobile format brought smell-based art into multiple settings instead of limiting it to a permanent gallery.

  Outcome. The project broadened the reach and mobility of De Cupere's olfactory-art format.

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• 2014Publish and sign The Olfactory Art ManifestStrategy

  De Cupere sought to articulate olfactory art as a distinct artistic field, linking his work to earlier avant-garde discussions of smell in art.

  What changed. He wrote the manifesto and signed it with an extract made from collected bodily smells.

  Aftermath. The manifesto was subsequently shown in exhibitions including Belle Haleine: The Scent of Art and There's Something in the Air!

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• 2016Scent in Context: Olfactory Art published

  Stockmans Publishers released De Cupere's book Scent in Context: Olfactory Art, documenting and contextualizing his field of practice.

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• 2015The Smell of War exhibition

  De Cupere initiated and curated an exhibition bringing together several olfactory artists to explore smell, conflict, and memory.

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• 2014The Olfactory travelling exhibition project

  The artist created a mobile container-based project presenting 33 one-day olfactory-art exhibitions over seven weeks.

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• 2012Peter de Cupere presents The Blind Smell Stick and The Blind Smell Touch

  The artist introduced sensory devices that allow participants to explore orientation, objects, and food through smell and touch. The works were exhibited at the World Creativity Biennale in Rio de Janeiro.

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• Olfactio developed with Cartamundi

  De Cupere collaborated with Cartamundi on Olfactio, extending his olfactory-art practice into a technology-oriented format.

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• Cocoa 5 Senses links chocolate and olfactory art

  In collaboration with Gluon, Callebaut, and chocolatier Patrick Mertens, De Cupere developed a project examining chocolate through multiple senses.

  Product launch
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1. Peter de Cupere
2. Peter de Cupere official website