Music notes make up a song, different colours of paint make up a painting. Notes are also important to make perfume. Throughout my 5-month internship at Mediamatic, I have worked on multiple olfactory projects: I managed 3 Odoramas – lecture series exploring smells, I helped incense workshops and hung around an Aroma Lab and its perfumers. Even though my internship was not about making me a perfume expert, rather it was about making me an excellent event manager. But that’s the thing I love about creative events! You are constantly surrounded by the most interesting people and their unexpected projects. I have never thought that I would learn about the smells of old Amsterdam, recreate the smells of stinky feet and invite more than 30 people to talk about that every month!
To get you excited and share my passion for perfumery as an art but also to understand the depths of a Mediamatic internship, I invite you to “smell” the scent of a programme and events internship:
Top Notes
The top notes signify the opening of the fragrance formula, the very first impression. They are meant to create a short but important impression that smoothly transitions you into the heart of the fragrance. When I translate it to my first days and the superficial joys, one thing immediately pops into my mind: COFFEE! I got the opportunity to learn how to make coffee with a scary barista machine, which meant not only the beautiful taste of coffee, but it was also a ritual: the right temperature when foaming milk, the right amount of coffee grinds, the right pressure and then appreciating the stream of dark, creamy coffee pouring into my cup. Every day is a good day when started with a beautiful cup of coffee.
But enough about my passion for coffee! Lunch must not be forgotten! Mediamatic is not only an art’s centre, it is also a restaurant. Thus, every day one of the interns, together with the chef, cooks a beautiful vegan meal. From the very first day it felt very communal and it was a great opportunity to see all your co-workers (and the office cat – Mitchel) and share stories.
Middle Notes
The middle notes are the ones that appear once the top notes evaporate. They have a strong influence on the upcoming base notes and are usually pleasant and smooth. In my internship I think of this as perspectives. Throughout my time at Mediamatic I have practiced many things but none of them wouldn’t have happened if not for the “go-getter” attitude. Mediamatic is all about talking to people and being brave enough to speak up and express your creative ideas. Nothing is impossible! You can even create your own workshop! However, another middle note that plays major part here is hard work. During big and hectic projects, I stayed working up until the middle of the night, not shying away from even the smallest, dirtiest little tasks that might come my way. It was important to learn that an event would not be successful without me pouring my heart, soul and bloody work into it. Sounds intense? You know what? Those days are also the most memorable and created an introduction to the richest base notes.
Base Notes
The base notes are the final smells to appear and the last ones to be forgotten. They are the essence, the body of the fragrance and provide a long-lasting impression. These notes linger with you even when all the previous notes have disappeared. Because of my internship as programme & events intern, my whole way of thinking has shifted. The experience that I got, not only managing communication accounts, events and workshops but also in connecting art and science, is tremendous. Mediamatic is not a conventional place and it has created a new attitude in me that I hope to carry to my future work practices, as well as personal life. Further, I will never forget the people and the network that I have built. It was a time when I felt like I was surrounded by truly likeminded people and that even in times of a pandemic, I met crowds of the most interesting people I have ever met in my life. I believe and hope that this has changed the way I see good colleague relationships and I strive not to settle for anything less throughout my career.
And there it is! My Mediamatic internship fragrance! Separately all the notes may not necessarily be the most appealing, but together they created a beautiful and memorable internship scent.