Olfactory Memory · Episode 04

Dreams.

Perfume of dreams that are not real.

12 – 22 / 12 / 2024 Ho Chi Minh City 10 days

Dreams olfactory memory exhibition installation

01 · Opening


The exhibition is a space of dreams.

Twenty-two verbs. Thirty-six scents. Three blending tables for three tenses of dreaming: have dreamed, am dreaming, wish to dream.

The artist recorded what dreams do. Hug. Speak. Listen. Understand. Send. Hide. Each verb a way the dream works. Each scent a specific dream.

Open ten days, in December, 2024. The closing episode of the Olfactory Memory Exhibition Series.


02 · Concept · Pentagon


Penta is a pentagon.

When the edges connect, the shape is never exact. Like dreams. The sleeper wakes, unable to recall the dream. Or if recalled, only in vague fragments.

The exhibition tries to render this. Not a specific dream. Rather, the way a dream dissolves the moment one wakes.


03 · Verbs · Twenty-two verbs

What dreams do.

Dreams hug. Dreams speak. Dreams listen. Twenty-two verbs the artist recorded from what dreams continue to do at night. Each verb a short poem.

Verb 01

Hug

In a quiet dream, I hold myself, as if returning to the deepest place of the soul. There, time stops. Every clutter dissolves. Only stillness and calm remain. I hear my own heartbeat, gentle as comfort from a mother's arms. Worry and fear fade slowly, giving way to a sense of being whole and at rest.

Verb 02

Speak

In the dream, I go back to where the sunset holds your silhouette, where words of love kept secret for so long are a light wind, whispering close to the ear. I speak to you with a whole heart, burning with a longing that never faded. In the dream, I no longer hesitate. On waking, the question stays: in real life, would I have the same courage as in the dream?

Verb 03

Listen

Listen

In the dream, we hear a call rising like wind through a silent forest, soft yet haunting, touching the deepest part of the heart. A sound both distant and familiar. On waking, the words still linger, as if quietly asking: who called our name in that wild country of dreams?

Verb 04

Understand

In the dream, tears fall in silence, like a heart no one has yet understood. The calls carry no sound, only the echo of a loneliness that clouds the soul. We meet ourselves in sorrow, crying not from weakness, but because the heart longs for someone who understands.

Verb 05

Send

In the dream, an apology falls softly, carrying feelings as light as wind touching the evening. Never said in the rush of the day, the unspoken words ask the dream to carry a little tenderness. The wind takes away the clumsiness, and the apology becomes a light cloud.

Verb 06

Hide

In the dream, we wander into a world without days or months, where every step holds uncertainty. Blurred crossroads appear, as if asking us to face ourselves. A lantern far away, at once lighting the path and testing our courage.

Dreams installation

Verb 07

Xoay

Turn

In the dream we turn, an endless circle, suspended in space, a gentle void. The body's axis turns like the blades of a fan, turning to feel life drifting on. Turning to forget, turning to remember, dreaming of things far and near.

Verb 08

Keep

In the dream, a hand grips a shard, a fading shape. Is it someone, or only an echo from far away, from a place the heart cannot yet see? Held tight, though afraid it will dissolve. An object, or the longing itself, searched for in the current of life and never let go.

Verb 09

Ask

In the dream, we wander into the void, where questions about the sky, the earth and the reason keep ringing out, answered only by the endless silence of time. A soft echo replies to the doubts, and then, between dream and waking, we can no longer tell which is which.

Verb 10

Remember

In the dream, we wander into a place both strange and familiar, where memory and present weave together in dim light. An old scent drifts past, calling up a place once visited, a place the heart keeps naming. Walking without knowing what we look for, we find only a settled calm.

Verb 11

Stand

In the dream, I stand still between the real and the void, where blurred lights print vague shapes. Faces pass like a cold breeze, carrying unfamiliar sounds, like whispers from a world that does not belong to me.

Dreams installation

Verb 12

Wait

In the dream, an empty, cold platform appears like a faded picture, where I stand waiting for a train with no name and no hour. The heart is heavy with hopes half real, half not. But does that train truly exist?

Verb 13

Love

In a restless dream, I cling to a thin thread, as if it joined the present to everything uncertain. Hands trembling, I fear losing something precious. Is it memory, a dream, or words of love not yet given? That thread, could it be myself?

Verb 14

Wish

In that dream, I touch a small hand, gentle yet full of strength, as if it held a whole sky of peace. Those eyes, bright with trust, light up feelings that seemed silent. A strange connection, shimmering and real.

Verb 15

Find

In a dream of illusions, we wander among things not yet clear, as if searching for the key to the door of truth. But the key is fragile, breaking apart in the dark. Secrets are like wind blossoms; the key to a life is not easily found in an endless maze.

Verb 16

See

In the dream, I meet you again, a tender memory in the flow of time. You appear faint in the mist, the familiar eyes of the past full of human warmth. On waking, a chill in the heart, knowing you have gone far away, yet the light of memory still glimmers somewhere near.

Dreams installation

Verb 17

Release

In the dream, we are a leaf torn from the branch, falling free through endless space. No feet on the ground, no back against a wall, the drifting and lostness make the heart race. A hand reaches for something to hold, but only an empty sky holds us.

Verb 18

Care

In the dream, I see myself let go, leaving a figure behind, letting old days drift past like a passing breeze. Hands once ardent now loosen in the vastness of earth and sky, no longer holding on, no longer reaching for what is far. Letting go is not to lose, but to walk on.

Verb 19

Go

In the dream, I stand before a door, where sparse light touches the shoulder. A lock quietly keeps gentle secrets, like an invitation hidden behind it. My steps are slow and soft, in no hurry at all.

Verb 20

Swim

In a hazy dream, I sink into sorrowful water, where in the cold depths light is only a faded tint. Each stroke carries me through regions of feeling, where my heart opens on pains I thought had gone to sleep.

Verb 21

Bay

Fly

In the dream, we become a bird, gliding over still water, where waves ring out in calm, spellbinding tones. The sound whispers like a call from a place never left behind, stirring distant feelings.

Verb 22

Run

In a blind dream, I run, but my legs seem held captive, unable to lift. A howling wind blocks the way, the bare ground beneath seems ready to swallow each step. A helplessness that wrings the heart.


04 · Zones · Three blending tables

Three tenses of a dream.

Three tenses of dreaming.

At the end of the journey, three blending tables divide by tense: have dreamed, am dreaming, wish to dream. Visitors choose the tense they are in, read a remembering prompt, and blend one ten-millilitre bottle from the open palette.

Table 01 · Code D955

I have dreamed

Remembering prompts

  • Dream of a place with no parting. What is it like?
  • What did that summer leave in you?
  • Dreaming of the childhood games you once loved?

Palette · 8 bottles

  • D959 I have dreamed of you so many times
  • D971N I have dreamed of the last time we met
  • DIO82 I have dreamed of that summer long ago
  • DINV I have dreamed of the first moment I saw you
  • DPC I have dreamed of childhood games
  • D899 I have dreamed of home meals
  • D953 I have dreamed of a place where goodbyes don't exist
  • DEXO I have dreamed of someone who always understands

How to join

Answer one prompt. Select notes from the open palette. Blend one ten-millilitre bottle. Take it home.

Table 02 · Code D2922

I am dreaming

Remembering prompts

  • The smell of fear. With FEAR 21, Norwegian artist and smell researcher Sissel Tolaas made one of the boldest, most controversial works of olfactory art.
  • Dreaming of a place without pain?
  • Sitting by the window, what do you usually think about?

Palette · 8 bottles

  • D33GL A place where pain no longer lingers
  • D6113 A sunlit haven
  • DOPI A place where masks are unnecessary
  • D973 My mother's warm embrace
  • D556 Moments of serenity
  • DTOM A gentle afternoon
  • DEUS Peaceful rainy days
  • D000 Sitting by the window

How to join

Answer one prompt. Select notes from the open palette. Blend one ten-millilitre bottle. Take it home.

Table 03 · Code D1387

I wish to dream

Remembering prompts

  • Which superpower would you want most?
  • Dreaming of your ideal partner?
  • Dreaming of a place with only laughter?
  • With no fear, what would your life be like?
  • What would a world without loneliness look like?

Palette · 7 bottles

  • DSP I wish to dream of being a superhero
  • D656 Soaring through the skies
  • D947A A world filled only with laughter
  • D499 Castles from fairytales
  • DBLE Walking on clouds
  • DNIO Rain that never ends
  • D952 Reaching the stars

How to join

Answer one prompt. Select notes from the open palette. Blend one ten-millilitre bottle. Take it home.


05 · Share · Your dream

Your dream deserves to be told too.

The exhibition has closed. But dreams still come every night. Whether you visited or not, you can share. A dream you have had. A dream you are having. A dream you wish for. Penta keeps it.


06 · Visit · Exhibition details

Dates

December 12 — 22, 2024 · Ten days.

Opening hours

Mon — Fri: 14:00 – 19:00
Sat — Sun: 11:00 – 19:00

Location

Ho Chi Minh City.

Entry

Free entry. Visitors aged 16 and above.



08 · Echoes

Closed. Not ended.

The exhibition has closed. Dreams still come every night. In those who came. In those who did not arrive in time.

From the artist's notes on dreaming.