(gentle uplifting music) (upbeat music) (air whooshes) - Welcome to "The Newsfeed," I'm Paris Jackson.

We're here at the National Nordic Museum in Ballard, to preview a show that will entice your senses.

Correspondent Brangien Davis is here to show us around the exhibition called "Faux Flora."

- So "Faux Flora," the name means fake flowers, and that's literally what you're gonna see as we walk through.

(mellow music) But of course, there's a larger meaning, and part of that has to do with the powerful connection of scent and memory.

- So tell us about the artist behind the show.

- The group is called the Fischersund Collective, and among perfume circles, they're very well known for their unusual scents.

And here the group, which is four siblings, have come together with all their creative talents to create a fully immersive experience that touches on all the senses.

So it's pretty fascinating.

- Let's go inside.

(mellow music) - [Brangien] The exhibition traces the five human life stages of birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and death.

In parallel, we see the five stages of plant life, germination, growth, flowering, seed formation, and dispersal.

- So we're starting with birth, which involves milk.

And this video loop, (tones shimmering) you see it.

You hear it.

- Hear it.

- Yes.

- The dripping.

- The dripping sounds of the milk on this Faux Flora.

And then you're also going to smell it.

(milk trickling) - Hmm.

It smells really good actually, too.

- It smells very, very milky.

- Milky.

(mellow music) - [Brangien] Based in Iceland, the Fischersund perfumery creates earthy fragrances that smell of moss, cedar, and seaweed.

For the Nordic Museum, the sibling group invented scents to match each of their imagined flowers.

- So we're here now in the childhood section.

- Yes.

- We're seeing a lot here.

That's taking us back.

- Yes, exactly.

And this fictional flower, another one that they invented is obviously gooey.

- Yes.

- With candy.

(mellow music) One of the Fischersund's siblings is Jonsi, lead singer of the band, Sigur Ros.

He composed cinematic music for different elements of the exhibition.

And for this piece, which is called "Fake Nails," an invented flower that incorporates moving, what looked like Dahlia flowers to me.

- But acrylic nails are like- - As you pointed out, I didn't notice until today.

These are acrylic nails, and you can hear that.

- And you can hear them.

- Click, click, clicking.

- Click, click, click.

- [Brangien] Fischersund was inspired by the powerful connection between scent and memory, using their own childhood memories of scents in Iceland, they created an exhibition that they hope connects with universal human experiences.

- So Brangien, we're kind of wrapping this up.

We're towards the end.

- Towards the end of the lifecycle.

And we are at "Grandma's Purse," which is one of my favorite pieces because it's so evocative.

- And it's very different from the ambiance and what we were experiencing in the other sections.

- Exactly.

- It's slow down a lot.

- It's not moving as much.

It's not as vibrant of a color palette.

The leaves are a bit desiccated.

- It's sad.

- It's sad and nostalgic, you know?

- Yeah.

- I feel like nostalgia is a big part of this exhibit, and that's sort of both sad and warm at the same time.

You know?

(upbeat music) By layering scent, sound, visuals, and poetic written descriptions, Fischersund aims to trigger as many senses as possible.

In doing so, the artists encourage visitors to be fully present for an experience that may take them to the distant past or the far future.

"Faux Flora" runs at the National Nordic Museum through January 26th.

(upbeat music continues) - I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching the newsfeed, your destination for nonprofit northwest news, go to cascadepbs.org for more great local coverage.

(upbeat music continues)