Esperanza Window Trap marks the first physical manifestation of Woojae Kim’s original research into semiochemicals and olfactory biological messaging. In an anthropocentric episteme that locates knowledge production primarily in the visual realm—where identity markers like class, culture, and race are also encoded—Kim effectively decenters visualist logics in favor of the experiential, haptic cognition of scent. By gesturing towards the limitations of human perception, the exhibition encourages an interspecies mode of sensing. With a focus on mutual relationality and reciprocity, Esperanza Window Trap foregrounds the intimacy of scent as an equalizing means of knowing, remembering, relating, and being.
