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Exhibition Spotlight—Perception in Out of Sight! Art of the Senses

December 19, 2017

Installation view of Robert Therrien’s No title (folding table and chairs, beige), 2006. Paint, metal, and fabric; table: 96 x 110 x 110 inches (243.8 x 279.4 x 279.4 cm); four chairs: 104 x 64 x 72 inches (264.2 x 162.6 x 182.9 cm) each, unfolded. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Sarah Norton Goodyear Fund, 2007 (2007:1a-e). © Robert Therrien / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The works of art in Out of Sight! Art of the Senses feature elements that invite us not only to look but also to listen, smell, touch, and even taste. Here on the blog, we’re taking a closer look at some of the more unusual sensory experiences you can expect in the exhibition.

Installation view of Lucas Samaras’s Mirrored Room, 1966. Mirror on wood, 96 x 96 x 120 inches (243.8 x 243.8 x 304.8 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1966 (K1966:15). © Lucas Samaras

While sight may be the sense we’re most familiar with relying on in a museum, some works in this exhibition compel us to rethink what it means to see art. They reward additional looking, offer a moment of contemplation, or prompt a shift in perspective. Any memories we may have of everyday folding card tables and chairs are radically recast when we see these objects at an extraordinary and uncanny scale in Robert Therrien’s No title (folding table and chairs, beige). Our perceptions of space and depth are challenged by the infinite visual loop of reflections inside Lucas Samaras’s Mirrored Room.