Scent Fair Austin to Launch Inaugural Edition in November 2025
July 25, 2025
Austin, TX — Scent Fair Austin, a new exhibition and marketplace dedicated to scent-based art and contemporary craft, will debut on November 2, 2025, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Future Front House in Austin. Founded and curated by Carlos Moreno of Barrio Pop Studio, the project brings together artists, makers, and wellness practitioners whose work engages fragrance, materiality, ritual, and holistic practice. Public engagement will be led by Dr. Nirupama Kumar of Equity Through Art, whose work bridges contemporary art, neuroscience, and learning.
Scent Fair Austin introduces a curatorial approach that centers olfaction as a primary medium within contemporary art. While exhibition-making has historically privileged visual experience, this project expands the field by foregrounding scent as a critical tool for engaging memory, identity, and environment. Drawing from neuroaesthetic research, the fair considers how sensory experiences, particularly scent, influence perception, attention, emotional response, and memory formation. In this context, olfaction becomes a method for deepening audience engagement through scent-driven practices, creating experiences that are both immediate and lasting.
The inaugural edition will feature artists including Paloma Mayorga and Nam Joti Kaur Khalsa, whose practices engage materiality, ritual, and process through sculpture, installation, and botanical elements. Their work reflects a broader commitment to understanding how materials transform and carry meaning across time, extending into olfactory space through immersive and scent-driven approaches. Additional collaborators include Hannah Jackson of Acquired Taste and Jessie Rodriguez of WeSeeWaves, whose contributions expand the project through scent development, documentation, and visual storytelling.
The fair will present a range of practices spanning candles, incense, botanical installations, and scent-based artworks. These works move between functional and conceptual forms, situating craft within a contemporary art context. By bringing together artists, makers, and wellness practitioners across disciplines, Scent Fair Austin creates a platform for exploring how everyday materials circulate through systems of meaning, particularly within cultural traditions where scent is embedded in domestic, spiritual, and communal life.
Scent Fair Austin will be hosted by Future Front Texas at Future Front House, a space known for supporting independent artists and fostering experimental, community-centered programming. This partnership situates the fair within a broader network of artist-led initiatives in Austin, aligning with shared commitments to accessibility and collaboration.
Public programming will accompany the exhibition, led by Dr. Nirupama Kumar through Equity Through Art. These programs will introduce olfaction as a method for engagement and interpretation, offering workshops and guided experiences that connect contemporary art to cognitive processes while supporting holistic wellness and learning.
“Scent Fair Austin is rooted in the idea that scent carries memory and cultural experience,” says Moreno. “This project creates space for artists and wellness practitioners working with fragrance and material practice to be seen, experienced, and understood within a contemporary art context.”
Scent Fair Austin reflects a growing interest in interdisciplinary and scent-based practices, contributing to a broader conversation around how exhibitions can engage audiences beyond the visual. By centering scent, the fair opens new possibilities for how art is encountered, remembered, and shared.
Additional details, including participating artists and programming, will be announced in the coming months.
About Barrio Pop Studio
Barrio Pop Studio is a multidisciplinary platform founded by Carlos Moreno, dedicated to exploring scent, material culture, and Latinx heritage through contemporary art and craft practices.
Press Contact
Carlos Moreno
Barrio Pop Studio
Austin, TX
