/7S/ is an olfactory installation of the Seven Deadly Sins by artist Nobi Shioya (aka Sacré Nobi) in collaboration with seven of today's top perfumers. The first installation of /7S/ took place in Cleveland, Ohio in January 2003.

Review 1 | Review 2

January 24 - March 8, 2003
@ Cleveland State University Art Gallery

• /7S/ is an olfactory installation of the seven deadly sins and an aesthetic contemplation of the perfumers who have created the seven scents of sin. Utilizing painting, sculpture and photography, the installation explores the artist's continuous interest in Catholicism while introducing his other obsession; smell. The exhibition has an educational approach towards the olfactory sense to let the audience explore the obscure art of perfumery.

• The central part of the gallery will hold seven large plaster casts, identical in shape of a large serum bottle, impregnated with seven different scents created by the perfumers. Each cast will be suspended from the ceiling at the height of the viewer's nose in front of a photograph identified with the name of the sin in Latin with slashes at the beginning and at the end (i.e. Pride is /SUPERBIA/).

• The remaining wall of the gallery will be dedicated to the seven perfumers' self portraits and their popular creations on the market. Both self portraits and products will be represented on canvases painted in black with white letters in the center which indicate the pieces. Each canvas of self portrait will be impregnated with the scent which portrays the perfumer. In the middle of the canvas will be his or her name, only in initials with slashes (i.e. Annick Menardo will be /AKM/). The products on the market will be shown in the same manner, without any packaging elements of the product, identified only by their scents impregnated into the canvases and their painted names. Besides the slashes, the names of the products painted on the canvases will also have a suffix .html. For example Kenzo's popular fragrance 'Flower by Kenzo' which was created by Alberto Morillas will be identified as /KENZO/flowerbykenzo.html on the black canvas.

• As the slashes and .html show, the exhibition also takes place on the Web. All the letters printed on the photographs or canvases are the pathnames to reach verbalized aspects of the pieces. The preceding domain name is CompressedArt.com. For example, if you want to view Gula (Gluttony) on the web, one should visit www.compressedart.com/GULA/.