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Carla
Bengtson

By
For
and With
Other Species

  • About
    • Bio
    • Artist’s Statement
    • Contact
  • News
  • Projects:
  • Every Word Was Once An Animal
  • Flicker
  • Mimetic Excess
  • S.C.O.L.D.
  • Becoming Colorful Becoming Warm
  • Hummer Habituator
  • Moth Moth
  • Middle Finger
  • Death Valley Wind
  • Utopia Distopia
  • Pollination Event
  • Teaching Aid
  • And Say
  • Your Nature
  • Snake Detection Theory
  • The Taste of Blue
  • R-RR-RRR-RRRR
  • Starting Over
  • Studio Mouse
  • Autobiographical Animal
  • All Videos

Sceloporus, Perfume based on lizard pheromones in handblown perfume bottle, perfume, glass, metal, cloth​

Sceloporus lizards, also known as Western Fence lizards, or blue-bellies, communicate with one another across time and space using pheromones secreted from their thighs, along with physical gestures. The perfume Sceloporus, inspired by fence lizard pheromoens, is a surprisingly fresh yet animalic perfume that blends with the wearer’s own skin chemistry to create a soft, sheer, more-than-human presence. It's primary scent notes, in keeping with scientific research, include pyrizines, also found in wine, citrus, coffee, and chocolate, as well as jasmonates, from flowers. Participants are invited to sample the perfume while tasting related scent compounds in white wine and grapefruit, coffee, and jasmine flavored chocolates.
In collaboration with biologists Dr. Emilia Martins and Dr. Peter Wetherwax. Glass by Sky Cooper.

Lizard Language

Fence lizard head-bob decoder bandana, silkscreened ink on cloth, 22.5” x 21.5”, 2018

Instructions for interspecies communication:
Find a fence lizard. Bob your finger in a rapid up and down motion, following the graph at the top of the bandana.

The horizontal axis = duration,
the vertical axis = height of the head at the top of the movement.

The Heat of the Rock for the Lizard

Video projection still, 2014-15

A video projection of a woman enacting lizard territorial displays is projected onto a rock. Heidegger uses the lizard’s relationship to the rock on which it suns and displays itself as an example of the difference between humans and animals. Here the rock is reinterpreted as a site for cultural performance.

Lizard Mirror

Handblown mirrored glass rocks, 2015-ongoing

Lizards will display to their own reflections. These mirrored rocks blend into their surroundings and perform as site interventions in lizard territory, evoking a response from lizards.

Lizard Mirror

Handblown mirrored glass rocks, 2018​

Every Word was Once an Animal, 2021

Every Word was Once an Animal is a collaborative project merging art, science, dance, music, and olfaction. Inspired by research on the gestural and olfactory communication strategies of Western fence lizards, the project explores the overlapping forces of nature and culture between humans, animals, and language.
In collaboration with biologists Dr. Emilia Martins and Dr. Peter Wetherwax, choreographer Darion Smith, composer Juliet Palmer, and artist Jessie Rose Vala

Lizard Semiotics, fence lizard head-bob decoder bandana, silkscreened ink on cloth, 22.5” x 21.5”, 2018

Instructions:
Find a fence lizard. Bob your finger in a rapid up and down motion, following the graph at the top of the bandana.

The horizontal axis = duration
The vertical axis = height of the head at the top of the movement
In collaboration with biologists Dr. Emilia Martins and Dr. Peter Wetherwax.
BANDANA scent fair postcard 1400
Black Bandana CB 1400
BengtsonLizard
bengtson_lizard_still
_DSC3487-pink
_DSC1935
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carlabengtson@icloud.com

© All Rights Reserved 2022

carlabengtson@icloud.com

© All Rights Reserved 2022