The festival focuses on promoting experimentation that integrates scent into contemporary art, music, dance, performance, literature, science, and technology. It explores how smell interacts with other senses—sound, image, text, and movement—through cross-modal artistic practices.

A key emphasis of the festival 2027 is accessibility and inclusion, with a strong focus on creating multisensory experiences that are meaningful to visually impaired audiences. By prioritizing scent, sound, touch, and spatial perception over visual dominance, the festival opens alternative ways of experiencing, understanding, and engaging with art. We encourage stories that are about, or relevant to, visually impaired people.

The program investigates how sensory combinations—both harmonious and contrasting—can expand perception and deepen engagement. It also explores collective memory and identity as multisensory experiences shaped through scent and storytelling.

The festival invites artists, musicians, dancers, performance artists, writers, scientists, technologists, curators, galleries, and institutions to participate in the festival in person, remotely in Riga, or by organizing satellite events in your country.

The festival is not covering artistic fees or travel/accommodation costs, but it provides space and/or time for your contribution, and support letters for your local funding agencies. The Scent + Art Festival 2026 brought together more than 100 participants from 32 countries.

Key dates:

1. Application deadline: July 15, 2026

2. Online seminar/lecture on how to create meaningful experiences for visually impaired persons: August 16, 2026, 18:00 CET