The Other Four assembles a varied display of 16 multimedia works by 21 contemporary artists that forefront the senses of smell, taste, touch, and sound. Exploring the richness of the human experience, the exhibition engages audiences primarily through nonvisual – the other four – senses. These works center our attention on these four, often upstaged, senses through disparate means, including technology, performance, interaction, and experimental practice. In so doing, the artists’ works point to the vast realm of physical and emotional experience that vision alone cannot access or probe.
Curated by Twin Cities-based artist and independent curator John Schuerman, The Other Four captures the spirit of regionally-based avant-garde artists who experiment with and produce sensory art.
Scheurman posits: “Most of us are so accustomed to the dominance of our sense of sight that we often forget it is operating … sometimes causing one to drift off into thought and miss the moment.”
The artworks in this exhibition invite visitors to become physically involved, to use their whole bodies to experience the show. There’s a spirit of play at work, liberating visitors from prior conditioning in museum etiquette that keeps the viewer and work at a remove from one another. Rather, The Other Four invites visitors to tap other, more intimate modes of engagement — to touch the works, to taste or smell them, to lean into them and listen closely. And along the way, one is invited to consciously appreciate the various ways these multisensory encounters spark, mingle, and recombine, leaving us with a deeper understanding of the rich differences and affinities inherent in the wide range of human perception and experience.
Featured artists include: Katayoun Amjadi, David Andree, Pedram Baldari, David Bartley, Emma Beatrez, David Bowen, Kate Casanova, Lucy Derickson, Rodrigo Cádiz, Wendy Fernstrum, Alison Hiltner, Nooshin Hakim Javadi, Christopher Jones, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Lee Noble, Ken Steinbach, Liza Sylvestre, Rotem Tamir, Jacqueline Ultan, and Aliya Ultan.
Exhibition Guide: You'll find additional resources, including verbal descriptions for each artwork in the show, in The Other Four Exhibition Guide.
General operating support for the Weisman’s exhibitions and programs is provided by the Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation and Ameriprise.
Image description: [Top to bottom] Alison Hiltner, Tethers, 2020. Silicone, various mechanical components including a transplant carrier, sensors, pumps, rubber tubing, stainless steel, and other components found and made. Lent by the artist. Photo by Madeeha Lamoreaux, courtesy of Weisman Art Museum; Kate Casanova, Sensory Seat for Porous Beings, 2023. Wood, electronic components, silicone casts of various textural forms, audio of an ant colony, a cat purring, and clay dissolving in water. Lent by the artist. Photo courtesy of the artist; Wendy Fernstrum, Common Scents (detail), 2023, mixed media, loan from the artist. Photo by Rik Sferra, courtesy of Weisman Art Museum.
