The Senses: Design Beyond Vision exhibition, on view at the Cooper Hewitt from April 13 through October 28, will feature inclusive, interactive installations created in collaboration with contemporary designers. The exhibition invites visitors to encounter design with all their senses through several interactive installations, created in collaboration with contemporary designers, from a furry wall with digital sensors that play music to a scent commission by Christopher Brosius inspired by winter.
The exhibition includes work by more than 65 designers and teams to examine how multisensory design amplifies everyone's ability to receive information and solve problems, including those with sensory disabilities.
"Across all industries and disciplines, designers are avidly seeking ways to stimulate our sensory responses to solve problems of access and enrich our interactions with the world," said Cooper Hewitt Director Caroline Baumann. "'The Senses' shares their discoveries and invites personal revelation of the extraordinary capacity of the senses to inform and delight. Within the inclusive environment created for the exhibition, there will be over 40 touchable objects, as well as services, such as audio and visual descriptions of the works on view, to ensure the exhibition will be welcoming to visitors of all abilities, an important step forward in our ongoing commitment to making Cooper Hewitt accessible to everyone."
Designed to spark curiosity and wonder in every visitor, "The Senses" amplifies the intimate links between design and sensory experience. The projects on view activate touch, sound, smell, taste, sight and physical experience. A digital animation translates bird songs into bursts of color and motion. A light installation changes from cool to warm in response to visitors' movements. Unusual vessels reveal the sonic and tactile properties of materials. Unique scents merge with materials, textures and words to build new memories and associations.