The Noseum

 The Noseum is an interactive and olfactory installation designed by Tasha Marks | AVM Curiosities for the new Fragrance Lounge in Liberty, London. The installation contains 360 3D scanned noses from Liberty customers, staff and perfumers - in a celebration of the nose as an icon of identity, heritage and skill.

The Noseum was inspired by the Nasothek in Copenhagen - a collection of plaster and marble noses kept at the Glyptotek Museum. The noses in the Nasothek were originally the replacement appendages, created to restore those that had fallen off and been lost from the classical Roman sculptures in the collection. However, in the 20th century, the “fake” noses were seen as unauthentic, so they were removed and presented in a single cabinet as a unique historical record. In the Noseum at Liberty we have a new chapter to this story, aiming to tell a tale of a more authentic Nasothek, one that is contemporary and inclusive, celebrating the nose’s – past, present and future.

The Noseum was also influenced by the legend of the Seven Noses of Soho (later attributed to artist Rick Buckley). As a born and bred Londoner, Tasha remembers learning about the noses while walking through Soho with her mother and always felt drawn to this particular London oddity. In the Noseum, Tasha Marks | AVM Curiosities has melded the stories of the noses of classical antiquity with the mythologies of contemporary London, in a true celebration of one of our most important features.

In celebration of the nose, the Noseum is intended as both a visual and olfactory spectacle. Several of the noses have been engineered to emit perfume molecules - so you can get nose-to-nose with a perfumer - for a unique experience of the fragrance on display.

The Noseum
Fragrance Lounge, Liberty | London
Created by Tasha Marks | AVM Curiosities
With thanks to Jon Beck, Dario Enrique Ochoa, Anton Moskvichev and everyone who offered their nose for inclusion in the piece.
Opens 15 March 2024 | Permanent display.

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