WINTERSWAP: Do not touch! Feel
"Art is not just a visual experience, but something that you can feel, hear, smell, touch and understand"
The exhibition ‘Do not touch! Feel’ invites visitors to experience art in a (different) sensory way. While touching is prohibited in traditional museums, we encourage you to discover works of art with multiple senses. Some people, who are tactile, understand art better by feeling. While others, for example, experience more connection through the use of hearing.
This exhibition shows existing works made from various materials. These works can be experienced by the visitor using senses other than just their sight.
Each material in this exhibition has unique properties, which must be discovered by the artist himself. During the making process, artists are intensively involved with their materials; they depend on it and use it to express their ideas. We believe that it is valuable for the viewer to experience these materials themselves, and possibly this brings you closer to the work.
With “Don’t touch! Feel” we want to show that art is not just a visual experience, but something that you can feel, hear, smell, touch and understand. We invite visitors to come one step closer to the work and experience art in a (different) sensory way.
‘Do Not Touch! Feel’ is curated by Rosie Weers and Rosa Simon.
I am Rosie Weers, a 21-year-old student at WDKA, and co-curator of ‘Do Not Touch! Feel’. I have always had a huge urge to learn new things and work with my hands. I see myself as an explorer in art and materials: I do not fully master any discipline, but I want to get to know and experience everything.
By discovering for myself how materials and techniques shape a work of art, I have learned to appreciate art much more. I want to share this experience with visitors, so that they can discover materials and processes for themselves and feel a new connection with art.
My name is Rosa Simon, and I am a 21-year-old teacher from Rotterdam. I get energy from teaching and teaching children that art is not ‘weird’ and that it can be seen in everything. I enjoy being creative and visiting museums, especially with colorful art. During these museum visits I often encounter the fact that I am not allowed to touch anything. My ‘touch urge’, or my tactile orientation, means that I can perceive better by feeling. From here the idea for ‘Do Not Touch! Feel’; a concept where it is not about viewing art with your eyes, but about ‘viewing’ it with your hands.