渾沌的嗅覺論嗅覺藝術的語言

嗅覺是歷經漫長歲月演進而成的古老感覺，複雜的感覺通路，不僅包含生物化學反應，也和記憶以及情緒有著密切聯繫，與文化背景和個體經驗相關。過去幾十年，不同領域的研究者逐漸對嗅覺表現出濃厚的興趣，嗅覺藝術也異軍突起，引發人們對氣味這種不可見媒介本質的討論。文章另闢蹊徑，從解讀莊書中「渾沌鑿竅而死」的寓言入手，試圖觸探古老嗅覺演化的哲學根源；除了莊書的啓發，文章參照嗅覺科學領域的研究進展，總結出嗅覺的三個美學特質：滲合、流變和感通，並將之應用於嗅覺藝術表現的類型分析，分別為：敘事性、思辨性和意象性，敘事性指對氣味訊息的生理心理反應，思辨性是對氣味所承載的社會、文化、政治、生態等深層意義的探究，意象性則返歸至身體，指向嗅覺感通觸發的詩學境界。

Smell is an involuntary, ubiquitous sensation. From an evolutionary standpoint, the sense of smell, as one of the oldest senses, plays a decisive role to help life survive and thrive. The complex olfactory system has the striking ability to elicit powerful emotions, feelings, and memories, thereby impacting the quality of life. What’s more, olfaction is generally not only a physiochemical process, it is also shaped by diverse cultural contexts and personal experiences. For the past decades, more and more researchers from different disciplines have turned their attention to this often-overlooked sense. In the meantime, there has been a flourishing of the use of smell in a wide variety of arts. Many olfactory art works challenge people in a provocative way, thus arise discussions and debates about the essence of the uncertain and invisible medium. Crossing traditional disciplinary lines, this paper firstly interprets the myth and meaning of the story of Hun-tun (Chaos) in the Zhuangzi, and Hun-tun here is regarded as the philosophical origin of smell. Secondly, referring to the study of olfactory system and language, the paper summarizes three characteristics of Hun-tun aesthetics, including diffusion, fluidity, and correspondence. Accordingly, olfactory art works are divided into three categories: narrativity, speculation and imagery. Narrativity denotes the process how odors drive the perception physiologically and psychologically; speculation connotes metaphors that are carried by odors for society, culture, politics, ecology etc.; imagery indicates the embodied poetics that is triggered by smell.