Charity, el olor de la caridad

Pablo España & Iván López

19 February 2006

Democracia – Pablo España & Iván López- (Spain). HDDV video. Ed. 1/7 + 2 A.P. 7’10’’

Every morning, from 7.30 until 8.30, supermarkets in the Vallecas neighbourhood on the outskirts of Madrid offer a mix of recycling and charity. Expired food from the previous day is collected by people who queue each day outside these establishments, emphasizing their status as failed consumers.
The waste generated by supermarkets takes the place of institutionalized charity.
The quality control of the multinationals becomes a kind of Salvation Army: here Ecuadorians, Moroccans and retired people reflect the multicultural identity of Europe.
This project is based on an urban action in which these supermarkets’ waste bins are painted with the word Caridad — ‘Charity’.
A perfume has been created on the basis of this urban action: the perfume of charity. This project consists in the presentation of this perfume, also called Charity, produced by the olorVISUAL collection.
The scent called Charity reproduces the smell of past-its-sell-by foodstuffs, thus complimenting and contrasting with the visual document of the collecting of expired food products with the olfactory sensation of rotting food.

Pablo España & Iván López