See more objects with the tag , environmental conservation, scent, genetically modified material, simulation.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2018

  • Work on this object began.

2019

2025

  • You found it!

Resurrecting the Sublime

It was designed by Christina Agapakis, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and Sissel Tolaas and manufactured by Ginkgo Bioworks. It is dated 2018-19. Its medium is scent installation, video. It is a part of the department.

This project approximates the smell of an extinct flower. Researchers extracted DNA sequences from historic samples of the extinct flower and inserted the sequences into yeast cells, cultured them, and extracted molecules to approximate the flower’s scent. The project raises probing questions about the implications of loss, centered on the sensory experience of extinction. Stand under the hood (to your right) to smell the released scent.

It is credited Courtesy of the designers.

  • Waistcoat (France)
  • silk.
  • Bequest of Richard Cranch Greenleaf in memory of his mother, Adeline Emma....
  • 1962-54-45
  • The Substitute
  • installation, video.
  • Commissioned by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Cube design museum.
  • NATURE.040

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318798853/ |title=Resurrecting the Sublime |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>