Pongs replace the paintings at new art exhibition

A Sunderland art gallery has replaced its sculptures and paintings with an empty room filled with 14 smells.

The novel "exhibition" has combined hi-tech science with artistic imagination to try and capture strange odours and historic events.

The sensory art is the idea of Robert Blackson, the curator of the Reg Vardy Gallery, and features the chemical smells of the sun and a space station.



The smell of the Hiroshima bomb and the stench of plague are also recreated.

Other interesting smells which have been imagined and created include the aroma of Cleopatra's hair and a death row prisoner's last meal.

To assist him in his quest, Rob called on botanists, astronomers, scientists and historians to help him recreate specific aromas. The If There Ever Was exhibit at the Ryhope Road gallery runs until 6 June.