Invisible Guts

Imaging the 'guts' through the five senses, for and with a visually impaired public and beyond

The felt body: a multisensory approach for and with a visually-impaired public

The idea that imaging a living being should be a straightforward, photographic matter is, of course, an illusion: not only because the body, once opened, ceases to be a living body (paraphrasing the Roman author Celsus) but also because the visual translation of the perceived into an image to share with others (whether figurative or sculptural, whether ‘realistic’ or symbolic, whether for medical or artistic purposes, and so on) is always, necessarily, a metaphor, and one produced by the object itself of representation: an embodied artist, designer, artisan, scholar, human being. Comparative guts takes the chance, and challenge offered by this observation to attempt the inclusive move of sharing the variety of body images in our collections with a visually impaired public. Thanks to the generous support of the Diversitätsfonds of the CAU University in Kiel, this exhibition has provisions for the blind in the form of image descriptions for a selection of the images on display, prepared by Claudia Böhme and her team, available on this page.

Moreover, the project generated the Workshop „DER GEFÜHLTE KÖRPER: EIN MULTISENSORISCHER ANSATZ“ / “The felt body: a multisensory approach for and with a visually-impaired public” which took place in the Kunsthalle Kiel on 9.06.23.

Through collaboration with various experts this workshop addressed and involved the blind within the public, but also the multi-sensorial dimension of any experience of ‘body’ and any attempt to access images of it. Silja Korn presented her photographic work as artist and blind person, “Lightpainting Art. Der Kreislauf des Lebens”; the Workshop also proposed a presentation on olfactory history (by Victor Golubev & Sean Coughlin) and an olfactory experience (by Klara Ravat), and an art-historical guided visit of artefacts from the Comparative Guts exhibition aimed at a blind public. This visit, led by art historians Almut Rix and Michaela Wilk, presented a selection of four images to a blind public, aided by 3D and relief prints based on the originals, prepared by Sylvia Goldbach.

Tactile Models

The Workshop „DER GEFÜHLTE KÖRPER: EIN MULTISENSORISCHER ANSATZ“ / “The felt body: a multisensory approach for and with a visually-impaired public” which took place in the Kunsthalle Kiel (9.06.23) proposed a selection of the images in Comparative Guts expertly presented by the two art historians Almut Rix and Michaela Wilk.

The guided visit was accompanied by tactile images (relief and 3D) prepared by Sylvia Goldbach (Taktiles). The ‘guts’ inspired objects of the digital exhibition were made available, in this way, to sensorial appraisal not through the eyes, but through the sense of touch and to our imagination and understanding as human listeners.

Workshop "Der gefühlte Körper" im Rahmen der internationalen Konferenz "Comparative Guts" in der Kieler Kunsthalle.

The item chosen were “Neurobust” by Hayv Kahraman; the medieval “Anatomia by Guido da Vigevano”; the Babylonian “Mask of Huwawa”; the rock carving of an elk from Alta (Norway).

Guts and Olfactory Experience

Gut Scents was a collaboration between olfactory artist Klara Ravat and classicists and chemists from the Czech Science Foundation project Alchemies of Scent whose aim was to explore and present the complex smellscape of ritual animal sacrifice as it was practiced in Ancient Greece.

Ritual animal sacrifice was a locus for the encounter of guts in antiquity through many sensual modalities. This would include the slaughter of the animal, the removal of its intestines and vital organs, and roasting of portions of these organs along with fat and flesh as an offering to the gods. Historical sources, however, rarely focus on the rich and often unpleasant smells that accompany the sacrifice and slaughter of animals, focusing instead on describing what are taken to be pleasant smells of roasted meat.

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Reconstructing the profile of scent compounds

The collaboration thus sought to explore this overlooked sensory aspect of the historical record. Victor Golubev, organic chemist at Alchemies of Scent, worked to reconstruct the profile of scent compounds that might be found in the volatile chemical environment during an animal sacrifice. This environment would mostly comprise chemicals resulting from damage to animal tissues and so it would change over the course of the ritual. Golubev traced these changes by exploring what tissues would degrade at different points. First, he investigated odorants associated with the slaughter or bloodletting of the animal, which would be formed by the interaction of iron in red blood cells with lipids. Second, odorants associated with the removal of the guts would be released, including those from the contents of the intestines and bladder, as well as degradation products of amino acids and fats. Finally odorants associated with roasted meat would arise during the cooking of flesh on the altar due to processes like the Maillard reaction.

These potential odorants were then shared with olfactory artist Klara Ravat, who integrated them into her recreation and olfactory performance. Ravat first compiled a working list of potential odorant compounds associated with the material and events of animal sacrifice: blood, death, fat, decomposition, fire and burning wood. Next, she consulted with published olfactive descriptions of these compounds and compared these to her own experiences with the materials. Using these as raw materials, she designed formulae and blended them in alcohol to represent the olfactory experience of burning guts: clonal for the dry metallic scent of blood, skatole and indole for the fecal scent of intestines, putrescine and cadaverine for the rancid smell of dead flesh, decanoic acid for the fatty scent reminiscent of goats, and cade oil, birch tar, and pyridine for the smoky, resinous atmosphere of the altar fire.

Workshop "Der gefühlte Körper" im Rahmen der internationalen Konferenz "Comparative Guts" in der Kieler Kunsthalle. Die Parfümeurin Klara Ravat stellt mit Geruchsproben den Duft antiker Opferrituale nach.

Workshop "Der gefühlte Körper" im Rahmen der internationalen Konferenz "Comparative Guts" in der Kieler Kunsthalle. Victor Golubev (Prag) während seines Vortrags GUT SCENT – The Smell of Guts .

Workshop "Der gefühlte Körper" im Rahmen der internationalen Konferenz "Comparative Guts" in der Kieler Kunsthalle. Teilnehmerin Tawni Tidwell testet Geruchsprpben der Parfümeurin Klara Ravat.

Ravat’s performance encouraged participants to consider how our sense of smell embodies memory, experience and language, while also being grounded in something chemical and beyond ourselves. Participants began by smelling Ravat’s recreation and then the individual compounds used. She invited them to reflect on their experience and to put what they were smelling into words using association, memory and feeling. The performance highlighted the contrast between the scents participants experienced and the absence of these scents in historical sources, prompting thoughtful reflection. Why might our ancient sources have left out some of the smells of ancient guts? And what does our experience of these compounds reveal about our own sensory and emotional expectations of our scented world? As we explore the rich sensory history of our past, we must also reflect on how our own experience shapes the way we understand it.

The Scent of Ancient Guts

by Klara Ravat

Skatole

animalic, warm, sweet, over-ripe fruit

Clonal

dry, citrus, orange peel, metallic, spicy, bloody

Indole

Pungent, floral, slightly naphtha and mothball like with a fecal and animalic musty character

Decanoic acid

unpleasant rancid, sour, fatty, citrus

Cadaverine

sperm, dead-animal, animalic

Putrescine

animal, rotting fish

Cade oil

smoky, birch tar, burnt, grilled, leather, resinous

Birch tar

smoky, burnt wood, leathery, phenolic

Pyridine

sour, smoky, warm, burnt, coffee, putrid, fishy, amine

Comparative Guts

ComparativeGuts

Invisible Guts

Imaging the 'guts' through the five senses, for and with a visually impaired public and beyond

The felt body: a multisensory approach for and with a visually-impaired public

The felt body: a multisensory approach for and with a visually-impaired public

Tactile Models

Tactile Models

Guts and Olfactory Experience

Guts and Olfactory Experience

— Reconstructing the profile of scent compounds

The Scent of Ancient Guts

The Scent of Ancient Guts

by Klara Ravat

Skatole

Clonal

Indole

Decanoic acid

Cadaverine

Putrescine

Cade oil

Birch tar

Pyridine

Comparative
Guts

—
Reconstructing the profile of scent compounds