Klaus Weber
Datura Perfume - prototype, 2005

Michael Strasser | TBA21| © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2008

Klaus Weber

Collection

30 ml psycho-active fragrance (5% in 90% alc.) made from the Angel Trumpet plant (Brugmansia suaveolens)
8.5 x 3 x 3cm

Datura perfume, a pocket-sized work comprised of a small glass vial housed in a discrete black roll was developed by Klaus Weber in 2005 while preparing the installation Allee der Schlaflosigkeit [Avenue of Wakefulness] a 1:2.45 scale model for a public botanical pavilion that is accessible to visitors. The 13.5 meter long structure is arranged as a long corridor lined with Angel Trumpet trees, a hallucinogenic plant with ties to shamanistic rites and valued for its ability to induce powerfully vivid dreams. More typically, these narcotic plants are innocuously used as ornamental accents in European gardens and yards. Visually alluring, the plants, heavy with sensual tubular blossoms, release an extremely sweet, intoxicating scent that heightens as the sun sets in the evening. Datura is a genus of species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the Solanaceae family hailing from South America, which also includes the more common varieties: petunias, tomatoes, and potatoes. Weber sent an Angel Trumpet blossom to a lab that produced an identical copy of plant’s distinct fragrance in perfume form. The result is the prototype: Datura perfume. The 30ml of fluid in the vial is not facsimile or an appropriation of the smell, but an exact replica with the same psychoactive properties as the plant itself. – Gloria Sutton

*1967 in Sigmaringen, Germany | Living and working in Berlin, Germany

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Datura Perfume - prototype, 2005

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Klaus Weber

Klaus WeberDatura Perfume - prototype, 2005

Klaus Weber
Datura Perfume - prototype, 2005