Burn the Grounds
This olfactory based installation revolves around the tradition of coffee consumption. It investigates how western countries indulged into coffee culture and have developed it into the enormous market and industry it is in current times, which is still leaning on the unchanged pillars of overexploitation, modern slavery and ecocide. The work is divided into 3 pillars, The Culture, The Industry and The Toll. I’ve done research through an extensive online imagery search, collecting the images into one large photo-collage showcasing the current coffee industry from cafe to consumer to farmer to picker. The photocollage speaks for itself, but is supported by a collage of textual and infographical information found on the coffee industry, showing greenwashing found in the industry’s largest names like Fairtrade: Also supporting child labour*.
After my research findings I connected 3 scents/flavours found in coffee to the 3 pillars of my research. Coffee as a drink represents The Culture. It is familiar to everyone, recognised from a consumer perspective and is ultimately the face of the coffee industry. Its deep, nuanced and alluring taste is widely recognized and demanded. The small of raw coffee beans are linked to The Industry. Raw coffee smells more earthy, dark and bitter. A less accessible taste and smell, and more raw in its nature than coffee as a drink. And at last: When burning coffee grounds it releases a deep smokey and pungent smell. I linked this smell of coffee smoke to The Toll. The burned coffee smell expresses the bitter and unpleasant side of the coffee industry, a scent that arises from the coffee industry but no-one wants to experience or be aware of.