Institutional Wellbeing @ OMA

Institutional Wellbeing: An Olfactory Plan for Oceanside Museum of Art, views from exhibition (photographs, video installation, engineered scent dispensers, scent installation, edition of artist-made scent, display furniture & ephemera), 2009

Institutional Wellbeing questions intersections between art, science, commodity and entertainment. Through various personae - artist, new age healer, corporate president and motivational speaker - Brian Goeltzenleuchter scrutinizes the role museums play in a world driven by image-based advertising and consumer capitalism.

Life has become about having, not living. We create self identity and negotiate social relations through consumer action, evaluating products based on the image and lifestyles they project through advertising. With sensory engineering and corporate savvy, Goeltzenleuchter has designed an environmental fragrance for Oceanside Museum of Art aimed at enhancing aesthetic experience and increasing individual wellbeing. By means of feel good science and consumer marketing, Goeltzenleuchter informs us what we need and offers us what we must have. Ultimately, Institutional Wellbeing reveals the organizational forces behind the production of culture and the power of image marketing in grand corporate style.

To survive, museums have become centers of "edutainment," as aesthetic contemplation has given way to event driven spectacle and museum store shopping. But as purveyors of good taste, museums offer an excellent value in the crafting of self image. With every purchase of OMA fragrance, we provide the user with the cache of a well respected art museum. Did I mention the OMA fragrance is available for purchase in the Museum Store?

-Teri Sowell, Director of Exhibitions

Institutional Wellbeing: Product Launch, video, 25:46, 2009