Could we bring back the smell of an extinct flower? Five years ago, this question started Ginko Bioworks off on an unexpected adventure that’s led us through enormous collections of two hundred year old plant specimens and international art exhibitions, through collaborations with a paleogenomics lab, a smell researcher, and a multidisciplinary artist, and through lots of cutting edge synthetic biology. The culminating immersive installation where you can smell the lost flowers, titled Resurrecting the Sublime, in collaboration with artist Dr. Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, smell researcher and artist Sissel Tolaas, and with the support of IFF Inc, has been shown at a number of art museums in Europe and will be having its US debut this week as part of Nature—the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial opening May 10 in New York.
Click here for a short film that tells the story of 'Resurrecting the Sublime', from the herbarium to the lab to the art gallery. In the link you can also find out all there is to know about this remarkable project.