Love Potion No. 9

A One Night Scented Event
Organized by Bettina Hubby
and The Institute for Art and Olfaction
February 2015

Love Potion No. 9 was a scented matchmaking event for singles, organized by Hubby and The Instituted for Art and Olfaction. Participants were assigned a pseudonym, a one-note scent unique to them (based on their profile form), an empty bottle for their personal formula, and a participation form, upon which they rated their interactions on the Romantic and Sexual Potential Scale (RaSPS). By means of introductions participants were randomly assigned interactions with one another for timed interactions and then rotated. The interactions were rated one through five by each participant. The score determined the amount of aromatic material in each participant’s personal fragrance formula. A hosted happy hour followed with group activities and bonding exercises, emceed by Hubby. Each participant left with their own small bottle of scent, based on the quantity and perceived quality of their interactions. Envelopes were sent out in the following days to connect personal matches (deemed to be mutual ratings of 5).

The event came together with help from Randi Steinberger, Juliane Lee, Maxwell Williams, Bolyn Hubby, Savannah Kingsley Smith, and the band Nudo featuring Tommy Jordan, Richard (Rood Dog) Barnes, Harlan Steinberger and Jelani Felix.

More information on the collaborators:

Saskia Wilson-Brown is the founder and director of The Institute for Art and Olfaction, which she started in 2012 as an experimental arts organization devoted to practices that incorporate scent.

Austin Young is a Pop-Culture Architect, photographer and trans media artist. Young has been documenting pop, sub, and trans culture since 1985 through portraiture. Young’s video works play with pop-culture and camp, celebrity, gender and identity. Young is also co-founder of Fallen Fruit, an art collective who use fruit as a common denominator to change the way you think about the world. austinyoung.com

Steven Rimlinger is a photographer, editor and filmmaker. Steven’s practice is as diverse as his interests. His company – Square Footage – provides high quality media for marketing residential and commercial property. stevenrimlinger.com

Barbara Gillespie is Hubby’s mother and most consistent collaborator. She has worked with her daughter in countless ways: From knitting dozens of table-top traffic cones to coming up with aphrodisiacal drink recipes.