On Sept. 24, Boston’s highly interactive WNDR Museum opened its doors for “College Press Night.” Chris Cloud, the senior director of brand and engagement for WNDR, stated that the museum was created for “those with an insatiable desire for new experiences, creative expression and a sense of wonder.” Cloud describes the museum as an “intellectual playground designed to inspire creative joy.” The exhibits play with sounds, sensory lighting and texture to create an immersive experience.
WNDR curated exhibits “explore themes of introspection, human connection, and emotional well-being,” tackling challenges like mental health and self-reflection. Yayoi Kusama, a contemporary Japanese artist and 2006 recipient of the Praemium Imperiale Award, created the exhibit “Let’s Survive Forever” (2017), which resonated well with the theme of introspection. It showcased a private mirrored room filled with suspended stainless steel mirror balls of various sizes –– appearing to comment on the interconnectedness of all things, like how each dot is a star or a universe, and how we are viewing an infinite amount yet also viewing ourselves at the same time. Kusama has other exhibits on display as well; one in particular utilizes her polka dot motif, inviting guests to leave their mark on colorless surfaces of the showroom with colorful circular stickers.
Visitors can physically interact with the museum in other ways, too. The ever-expanding “Wisdom Project” wall allows for visitors to write words of wisdom, or even random declarations of love, and post them for future viewers to see. Visitors are also able to get a close-up photograph of their eye taken at the “Iris Exhibit,” which is then projected onto two walls alongside the eyes of past visitors. Cloud mentioned that “Iris” tends to be the exhibit that most visitors linger at; they often gaze in awe at the “unique patterns, colors, and textures in each iris like miniature works of art.” Cloud highlighted how “eyes are not just windows to the world –– they’re windows to creativity,” and hoped that guests feel inspired and curious about the art they made and have seen at WNDR.
I found WDNR’s AI exhibit to be one of the most interesting. The exhibit produces five images from a visitor-generated prompt. I prompted the computer to visualize a mouse and a rat sharing a piece of cheese on a rainy day, and the computer generated five different variations of that scene on nearby television screens. From far away, it looked surreal –– almost like a hyper-realistic painting. However the more I looked at the images, the less perfect they became. There were rats with multiple sets of hands, a mouse and a rat morphed together, and mice with comically large ears. While this exhibit highlights the power of AI to create art, it also crucially displays the imperfections of AI.
My advice — as long as you go into the WNDR Museum with an open mind, you’ll find an exhibit that speaks to you. The museum is open seven days a week and tickets can be purchased at wndrmuseum.com.
Contact the editors responsible for this story: Ivy Buck, Anabelle Meyers
