Scent Rave: New Variations on Scent, Art, and Community
Organized with Maxwell Williams of UFO Parfums

Olfactory artist and perfumer Maxwell Williams of UFO Parfums addresses the intersection of experimental handmade perfumery, contemporary art, dance music, and the communities that embrace all three. In addition to a DJ set by Brian Piñeyro aka DJ Python and a pop-up shop, the afternoon features a panel discussion moderated by Williams with contributions from Saskia Wilson Brown, founder of the Institute for Art and Olfaction; Andreas Keller, founder of Olfactory Art Keller; and Hyungi Park, artist and incense maker.

Organized in conjunction with the Institute for Art and Olfaction’s Scent Week, this program is a continuation of Williams’s Scent Rave, an ongoing project that looks to create spaces that integrate smell, discussion, and dance—opening up all the senses to new possibilities.

Maxwell Williams/UFO Parfums is a perfumer, olfactory artist, researcher, DJ/producer, and writer based in Los Angeles. They have held solo exhibitions and performances at the Institute for Art and Olfaction, Los Angeles; Olfactory Art Keller, New York; Galerie de Thorigny, Paris; SEASON, Seattle; and the Experimental Scent Summit, London. They have collaborated with artists and brands like Come Tees, DJ Python, Tea Hacic-Vlahovic, OBEY, Parker Ito, Bri Williams, Ry Rocklen, Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs, Ariana Reines, Reggie Watts, Paul Kopkau, and more. They sit on the board of the Institute for Art and Olfaction.

After receiving a BA from UC Berkeley and an MA in fine art from Central Saint Martins, Saskia Wilson-Brown co-directed the Silver Lake Film Festival and ran international filmmaker outreach at Al Gore’s Current TV while producing initiatives around new models in the arts. In 2012, her interest in multivalent practices led her to create The Institute for Art and Olfaction (IAO), a non-profit devoted to access and experimentation in perfumery. Through the IAO, she has launched projects with institutions such as Pulitzer Foundation, Getty Institute, Hammer Museum, Wallace Collection, and many, many more. In 2013, she launched the Art and Olfaction Awards, an international awards mechanism for independent perfumers, and in 2018 she launched Open Sourcing Smell Culture, an initiative devoted to open source principles in perfumery. In 2019 and early 2020 she served as a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art MA Fashion program in London, before Covid called her home to successfully transition the IAO to online programming. In 2020 and 2022, she was invited as a Ballen Scholar at New Mexico Highlands University. In addition to overseeing the IAO, her current projects include a radio show and podcast called Perfume on the Radio for Lookout FM in Los Angeles, and pursuing a PhD exploring power relationships and access in the perfume industry at SmartLab, University College Dublin.

Andreas Keller, the author of The Philosophy of Olfactory Perception, is a New York-based academic with PhDs in neuroscience and philosophy who is interested in olfactory perception. He is the owner and operator of Olfactory Art Keller, an art gallery dedicated to olfactory art.

Hyungi Park is a Korean American artist based in Los Angeles, CA. Park obtained her BFA in Sculpture + Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Hyungi’s works channel the essence of traditional practices and rituals into hybridized ceremonies with modern technology. Her practice involves incense, historically used to measure time, as markers to reimagine new time structures utilizing scent. Her recent installation and digital works evolve from performances, attempting to replicate the visceral and ephemeral, and immortalizing it. She teaches lectures on the history of incense along with incense making workshops, and directs Baboshop, a creative multi-use studio in Los Angeles, CA.

DJ Python is the best-known alias of the Queens, NY-based DJ and musician Brian Piñeyro. A pillar of the Brooklyn/Queens based scene via a long-running residency at Nowadays and affiliation with Anthony Naples and Jenny Slattery's Incienso imprint, in recent years, Piñeyro has exploded into record stores and clubs around the world thanks to his innovative combination of deep house dynamics and latin rhythms. His last album, 2020's Mas Amable, was a downtempo epic garnering album of the year honors from Resident Advisor and Boomkat, and he's been on a tear since, dropping EPs like Club Sentimientos Vol. 2, a well-loved collab with Domino artist Ela Minus, a split with Nick León (with whom he hosts a Miami resident, suero) and a raft of remixes. At the heart of Piñeyro's sound is a mix of wistful electronics and undulating perc. Behind the decks, Piñeyro is an all-tempo, all-genre savant.


Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator, and is produced by Amelia Charter, Producer of Performance and Programs, with Brian Dang, Programming Coordinator, and Michele Huizar, Programming Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs is founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family