Where do the aromas of the boardwalk, sun tan lotion, and car interior with wet bathing suit take you? To Christopher Brosius' Day at the Beach, among his other fragrant new works. Prepare to get a noseful on May 19, if you pass by the Monell Chemical Senses Center at the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery. That's when the "Scent Is Life" exhibit gets the public sniffing with the ultimate art-science sensory experience.

Naturally, the impact of scent on emotions and memory has a powerful stench. The four-time Fragrance Foundation Award-winning perfumer Brosius paired up with researchers of olfactory sciences at Monell to show how odors can re-create experiences. "We want people to focus less on seeing, and more on smelling," says Brosius. "People have their own reactions to art just as they have their own powerful associations with scent."

The exploration takes place in one main room, containing 106 different smells. Visitors shouldn't feel overwhelmed. "We will have ground coffee for guests to sniff, which is known to clear the palate," says Brosius. Some of the scents are in liquid form inside of laboratory glass, while other fragrances are released by applying them to fabric. The multimedia installations are both visually inventive and educationally informative, using digital images, sounds and concrete objects to engage the senses. Roundtable discussions with the artists and scientists will reveal more secrets behind the scents for the extra nosy. Thanks to good olfaction art, you have a reason to stop and smell the car interior with wet bathing suit.