Activating smell’s political potential through smellwalk route design

This text unravels the collaborative design approach we—Ph.D. researcher Lauryn Mannigel, science and technology studies scholar Christy Spackman, cultural geographer Kevin McHugh, and visual artist and Studio Arts instructor Vicky Sabourin—used to create the route of a guided smellwalk for Montréal’s Quartier Concordia, exploring the political potential of smell. Drawing from the perspectives of practicing artists who value smell’s ephemerality, contextuality, and materiality, this text outlines the development of the smellwalk route, where we tested Mannigel’s conceptual curiosity in designing a path around the Henry F. Hall building—a building with a contentious political past—and Sabourin’s familiarity with the smells of frequently encountered spaces at Quartier Concordia. By exploring the roles of geographical proximity and distance, spatial familiarity and unfamiliarity, and the recollection of smell experiences—creatively balancing preconceived ideas with chance and pragmatics—our creative process develops a practice-led framework for olfactory encounters and public discussions that may activate the political potential of smell.