From October 10 to 12, the creative factory Veldze (Matīsa Street 8) in Riga will host one of the first international olfactory art festivals in Europe — the Scent Art Festival 2025. Bringing together 40 artists from nine countries — Latvia, Argentina, Norway, China, New Zealand, Finland, Portugal, Germany, and Greece — the festival explores scent as an artistic medium and its connection with sight, sound, and taste through exhibitions, performances, workshops, and lectures.
The Master of Research (MARes) in Hybrid Arts 2024–2025 student Eeva-Liisa Puhakka (Finland) will take part in the opening exhibition with her scented sound installation Leave the body, leave the mind, presented alongside works by artists from around the world.
The festival, directed by artist and researcher Sandris Mūriņš, celebrates the growing field of interdisciplinary olfactory practices, highlighting the potential of scent to evoke emotion and create immersive aesthetic experiences. Among its special guests are Argentinian artists Maria Zegna, Bruno Mesz, and Sebastian Tedesco, who will perform using a unique scent organ in a series of performances combining gastronomy, sound, and visual art.
The participation of MARes student Eeva-Liisa Puhakka at the Scent Art Festival 2025 highlights the program’s international engagement and the diversity of research-based artistic practices developed by the students of the Department of Audio & Visual Arts of the Ionian University.
More information about the event can be found on the festival’s Facebook page and Instagram profile.
