I had postponed my visit to Iris Van Herpen’s Sculpting the Senses exhibition for three entire months already. Yet exploring museums has always been a favorite activity of mine - as seen in my previous post on Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn here. So I finally went. Enticed by the promising glimpse of a colorful and textured whirlwind of fabric. Coming in, I was utterly unintroduced to Iris’ art. Free of any previewed monographs nor press kits. Eyes wide open, I was ready to absorb, sense, and connect.
Toddling into Iris Van Herpen’s universe
![Iris Van Herpen's Sculpting the Senses exhibition display + Colorful wall of pieces of cloth](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fb43861-6119-42f3-bed7-bb9cda4a9296_280x280.png)
![Iris Van Herpen's Sculpting the Senses exhibition display + Colorful wall of pieces of cloth](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd4e80a7f-b7bf-4441-942b-31dfa96edd1e_4032x3024.jpeg)
As it stands, the Sculpting the Senses exhibition has been broken down into eleven universes. From Water and Dreams to Cosmic Bloom, with rooms in between as Synaesthesia, or Cabinet of Curiosities. The sections are juxtaposed forming a patchwork of hard-to-assemble themes, like artistic drops dispersed into the air. The exhibition booklet1 itself has taken on a vaporous quality. Meaning there is ample room for frolicking visitors to experience and connect to Sculpting the Senses through self-curation.
Personally making sense of Iris’ Senses
![model drawings](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f65a168-cc40-4df4-9f29-7261ae6a4d3f_4032x3024.jpeg)
![model drawings](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91722118-07c2-4cb1-bb4c-f8cedce9515c_4032x3024.jpeg)
I felt the closest to Iris when contemplating her sketchbook. It was as if she was standing there, amidst her papers, holding her colored pencils, pondering final touches and marvelous details. Onlookers could immerse themselves as they please, grasping this artifact, religiously turning pages and delving into her art as if they were partaking in the drawing process with their eyes. Given the long line of people waiting, diving into her sketchbook intricacies was an obvious choice.
As Andrew Loomis once said:
Drawing is vision on paper.
It stands as a prime relic of her sense and sensibility, immaculate from and untouched by interpretation and confection. It bridges the gap to Iris’s mind, her train of thought, and core conceptualization. Her designs are made to be worn, to be embodied, whether in person or in sketch form, enlivened by flesh and experienced through senses.
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All around were standing art students, spread across the rooms, studying textured fabrics, cracks and crevices - a kind of reverse-engineering process, from cloth to sketch. Some other spectators were methodically capturing photographic details of Iris’s art, a new species of self-curation, adding an extra layer to the medium. A form of take-home art.
Balancing out a curator’s rough overview
To visit the museum is an intentional experience, calling for thoughtful preparation and leading to reflections in retrospect. While immersing oneself in monographs or taking notes and scribbles establishes a solid first-base, true enrichment comes from engaging further with others. Open conferences with fellow onlookers, or contrasting students’ sketches deepen understanding beyond the exhibition’s initial overview. Through astute observation and interactive exploration, guests can connect the sensory dots and reach symbiosis with Iris’s universe and its Senses.