What is it about?

CODE.scent is an art installation that lets visitors experience computer code through smell. We assigned a distinct scent to each of several programming languages and built a six-channel diffuser that releases these scents into the space. Code is usually something people read on a screen, and most of them never see it at all. Here it becomes a physical presence in the room, something you can notice, compare and remember with your body. The work was created by Stanislav Milovidov and Nikita Bukreev (SensoryLab) and shown at the Krasnokholmskaya Gallery in Moscow and at SIGGRAPH Asia 2026.

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Why is it important?

Software shapes almost every part of daily life, yet it stays invisible and abstract for most people. Translating code into smell offers a different way in. Smell is closely tied to memory and emotion, so the installation invites visitors to form an intuitive relationship with programming languages, including those who have never written a line of code. The project also shows how artists can use inexpensive open hardware to explore multisensory ways of presenting digital culture.

Perspectives

I work in experimental media, where I look for ways to make the hidden layers of digital culture tangible. Programming languages are one of those layers. They are usually treated as neutral tools, yet each of them carries its own history, community and way of thinking, and together they have quietly shaped how we work, communicate and even imagine the world. Interfaces, platforms and creative software all grow out of decisions made in code. With CODE.scent, Nikita Bukreev and I wanted to give these languages a character you can sense directly. Turning them into scents is a subjective act, and visitors often disagree with our choices. For me that disagreement is the point, because it shows that code is a cultural material with its own moods and associations, open to interpretation like any other.

Stanislav Milovidov
HSE University

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This page is a summary of: Code.scent, November 2026, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3829214.3839388.
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