13. Artefact Research #3 - Our Senses & Making Beauty

The Our Senses exhibit consists of 11 interactive rooms is " a playground that warps what we perceive to be reality.". Visitors are invited to use their six senses - sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, and balance - to navigate through their experience. 
Credit: Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
The "seeing" rooms in the exhibit utilise optical illusions and sensory tricks to let visitors explore and discover hidden aspects of the exhibit, while learning about how their eyes and brain work together to perceive the world. 

The "hearing" room asks visitors to pick out specific sounds from an orchestra, while a room with curves all over the flat floors and walls confuse brains and some visitors need to stumble through it. 
Credit: Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
I've decided not to continue paraphrasing the jounalist's work and let you read the article if you want. All in all, the Our Senses exhibit is quite interesting, but is more entertaining and educational rather than intending to provoke an emotional response. If given the chance, I'd love to check it out. 

The Making Beauty exhibit is a bit more macabre, as the Macedonion artist Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva has created large-scale sculptures made from "artistically manipulated animal viscera, painstakingly preserved and exploited to fascinating, decorative effect". 
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva’s Haruspex, made from pig, sheep and cow entrails.
Photograph: Bernard G Mills/Courtesy the artist
The sculpture pieces look almost fragile, as the artist seeks to unearth beauty, “whatever beauty is”. I personally find this exhibit very intriguing, as it might evoke feelings of disgust along with awe in the viewer, and shows them something they know in a different context from how it is usually shown.

Fragility, 2015, Fabrica Gallery. Photograph: Tom Thistlethwaite/Courtesy the artist


Bibliography: 
St. Fleur, N. (2017) This Exhibition Will Help You Make Sense of Your Senses [online] The New York Times. Available at:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/arts/design/our-senses-exhibition-american-museum-of-natural-history.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2018]

Buchan, K. (2016) Art from the gut: the scientifically inspired work of Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/07/elpida-hadzi-vasileva-making-beauty-exhibition [Accessed 20 Nov. 2018] 

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