Transformation of the Olfactory Culture

The article is devoted to the understanding of the aesthetic role of smell in the European culture and to the historical transformations of the sense of smell in the modern society. The point of departure is the question of the reasons for the modern return of “animal” scents to perfumery, which have been avoided for the last three centuries. This theme allows us to touch upon such topics as the mechanism of changes in sensuality in culture, the concept of reducing the importance of smells, the connection of smell with the archaic. Changes in the olfactory sphere are interpreted through the general mechanism of the resymbolization of sensuality, which is associated with the rereading of the current space-time coordinates and the reformatting of the landscape of reality in which a person lives. The author understands archaic as a metaphenomenon of consciousness and sensuality inherent in primitive and traditional societies and persisting in modern Western culture as irrational aspects. The paper indicates the functions ascribed to the sense of smell in traditional cultures and how olfaction classified society and the reality of life. In a traditional society, the need for a variety of natural olfaction is met culturally; however, in the modern European world, the sense of smell shifts to the periphery. The olfactory plots of several epistemes are traced from the Renaissance to the present day: the place of aromas in culture, the revolutions in the sphere of odours and the creation of olfactory canons. The author outlines the contemporary implications of historical changes in olfaction, including the reappearance of animal scents in perfumes, defined as opportunities for safe transgression. The concept of olfactory selectivity in modern culture, focused on individualization and adjustable settings of sensory parameters, is proposed.