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| Revolution Perfume available Internationally and on-line |
by lisa kirk
Announcing Lisa Kirk’s new custom-made perfume, REVOLUTION The fragrance contains the odors of smoke, gasoline, tear gas, burnt rubber, and decaying flesh and acts as an olfactory critique on contemporary luxury branding and political im/possibilities. For this new blend, fragrance consultant and entrepreneur Ulrich Lang of Ulrich Lang New York, longtime specialist in art and fragrance, brought Kirk together with Patricia Choux for Takasago to create a facsimile of the original luxury blend used in Revolution Pipe Bomb, also on view in the lobby of the Ace Hotel. REVOLUTION is an affordable facsimile of the original blend encased in a 12ml chemical transport vile and static shield sleeve.
In 2008, PARTICIPANT INC introduced Revolution Pipe Bomb, a collaborative limited edition by Lisa Kirk and jewelry designer Jelena Behrend. Fashioned in sterling silver, 14k gold, and platinum, Revolution Pipe Bomb is a hand crafted precious metal decanter designed for this special edition of the fragrance, Revolution. Conceived as the end result of several years of research and related works by Kirk that address the marketing of transgressive practices, the original Revolution fragrance was produced in collaboration with Patrica Choux for Symrise Perfumers, the 2008 recipients of the prestigious 2008 American Society of Perfumers Choice Awards for outstanding fragrance creations.
Through research gathered from interviews with anonymous journalists, activists, and political radicals, Kirk developed the Revolution fragrance based on their memories of the smell of revolution. The final solution contains the odor of smoke, gasoline, tear gas, burnt rubber, and decaying flesh. For this special limited edition, Kirk joined with artist and jeweler, Jelena Behrend (Jelena Behrend Studio, NY), to imagine a precious metal pipe bomb to contain a vile of this faintly aggressive fragrance. Elevating a makeshift device to a highly valued commodity, this bold and meticulously sculpted object, removed from the register of everyday violence, is held in reserve for the smell of Revolution.
Samples and related packaging were featured in a sculptural display unit reminiscent of Kirk's smoking Revolution perfume laboratory, installed at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA Affiliate (organized by Curatorial Advisor, Lia Gangitano, fall 2008). A glass door sealed off Kirk's Time Suspended, in which the imagined production site of the fragrance REVOLUTION! wasdetailed with Molotov cocktails, peeling wallpaper, and a laboratory turned upside down. Related "marketing items," including a silk-screened bandana (to be worn as face mask) depicting an exploded view of the Revolution Pipe Bomb, as well as photographic elements derived from the project, have been distributed by PARTICIPANT INC. Revolution Pipe Bomb, by Lisa Kirk and Jelena Behrend, was featured in Kirk’s exhibition, House of Cards at Invisible Exports, NY, February, 2009, along with a new promotional video, REVOLUTION commercial which she made in collaboration with Gabriel Jefferey.
Lisa Kirk’s work explores the contradictions of consumerism and the aestheticization of formerly radical political signifiers. Informed by contemporary reality television culture, her projects are intentionally infused with an overflow of symbols that imply something "real" is happening. Kirk deploys strategies designed to draw in an audience stretching beyond the parameters of the "art world," and seeks to challenge what art can be in the 21st century.
Lisa Kirk received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts and her MFA from the University of California. She has had solo exhibitions and projects at Invisible/Exports, NYC; PS 1 MOMA; Galeria Comercial, PR; Participant Inc, NY; and MOT International, London. She has also contributed projects North Drive Press, NYC, Creative Time, NYC, and Charlie, NYC. Kirk’s work has been featured in Artforum, L’Uomo Vogue, Plan B, The Guardian, Time Out London and New York, The New York Times, Flash Art, Frieze, Art in America, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and Art Review. Her web site can be viewed at http://lisakirkprojects.com.
RETAILERS of LISA KIRK REVOLUTION
USA
PROJECT NO 8, NEW YORK
LUCKYSCENT / INDIESCENTS.COM, LOS ANGELES
MIOMIA, BROOKLYN
GERMANY
DEPARTMENTSTORE QUARTIER 206
AUS LIEBE ZUM DUFT, FIRST IN FRAGRANCE, BRUCHSAL
ITALY
LA RINASCENTE DEPARTMENTSTORE, MILAN
| Revolution-Ad.pdf |
| Ace Hotel Blog and Revolution video |
| http://blog.acehotel.com/post/417924504/revolution |
| image sof vitrine at ace |
| Ace Blog page for the vitrine |