These multisensory installations engage the body as well as the mind, while challenging male-dominated art history narratives
M+ is set to transport visitors into the worlds of visionaries with “Dream Rooms: Environments by Women Artists 1950s-Now”. Running from September 20 to January 18, the exhibition casts visitors into a dozen multisensory environments crafted by women trailblazers from Asia, Europe and the Americas, spanning more than seven decades of contemporary art.
Starting at the advent of installation art in the 1950s and 60s, the works invite visitors to engage the body as much as the mind. Often ephemeral and experimental, the installations blend art, architecture and design, anticipating today’s digital experiences while challenging male-dominated art history narratives.
The exhibition, which debuted in 2023 at Germany’s Haus der Kunst München under the title “Inside Other Spaces”, features nine historical works meticulously rebuilt through research and collaboration. These include Laura Grisi’s wind-filled Vento di Sud-Est (Wind Speed 40 Knots) (1968), which subjects visitors to natural phenomena inside a reconstructed black box to highlight the disconnect between indoor and outdoor worlds; Judy Chicago’s ethereal Feather Room (1966), suffused with 135kg of cruelty-free feathers; and Aleksandra Kasuba’s Spectral Passage (1975), a neon-lit rainbow journey accompanied by Gustav Holst’s The Planets orchestral suite that guides visitors through the stages of life and rebirth. One of the earliest works, Yamazaki Tsuruko’s Red, dates back to 1956 and features a luminescent red cube modelled on bedroom mosquito nets in Japan.
