Presented by Dirt and Are.na
 
NOP is part of Scent Access Memory, aka SAM, a 12-part editorial series about olfactory triggers, digital traces, mall pretzels, utopian cities, cherry chapstick, and the impressions we leave behind.
 
A NOP is no operation--an elegant architecture of empty space. Engineers use these instructions to provide safety and balance without impacting the underlying memory.  Sometimes strength is felt most keenly in absence, and sometimes the correct command changes nothing at all.
 
NOP is a perfume created in response to scent's relationship to memory. Created with a blend of molecules not found in nature (along with some that are, but used in unrecognizable ways), NOP pushes back against the smeller's necessity to reach into their memory centers as a reflex. NOP is meant to be a meditation of the present tense.