WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD

ASMR (“Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”) is a term that describes a physical sensation: euphoria or deep calm, sometimes a tingling in the body, often provoked by visual or auditory stimulus. In recent years an online audience of millions has grown, dedicated to watching the work of designers and content creators who try to trigger this feeling in their viewers. ​

On April 7, 2020, ArkDes broadcast a virtual vernissage WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD—an exhibition about ASMR—live from Stockholm. Now, we invite you to relive this digital opening and discover an emergent field of design that mediates between mind and body. Like many works of ASMR, this virtual vernissage is best experienced from a comfortable spot and through your favourite pair of headphones.

Presenting (in order of appearance)
ASMRtists (PierreG ASMR, WhisperingLife ASMR, UNO ASMR, Life with MaK, ASMRctica, FredsVoice ASMR, MissASMR, anoASMR, Made in France ASMR), Kieran Long (Director, ArkDes), James Taylor-Foster (Curator, ArkDes), Jennifer Allen, Giulia Poerio (Researcher, University of Essex), Craig Richard (Researcher, University of Shenandoah), Jamie Lauren Keiles (Journalist), Helga Sadowski (Researcher, Örebro/Uppsala University), and Justina Hüll (Digital Communicator, ArkDes)

The exhibition
As little as a decade ago, ASMR was largely dismissed as a figment of the imagination. Today the term represents one of the largest movements on the Internet, and it has become impossible to ignore. As academic institutions around the world seek to make sense of the phenomenon, creatives—known as “ASMRtists”—are building on a cultural movement that transcends language and culture in favour of “feels.” WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD is the first museum exhibition dedicated to this feeling, and the emerging field of creativity that has grown up around it.

Like meditation or yoga, ASMR happens to both your body and to your mind. It is not about speed, but about focus and slowness. ASMRtists do not seek to entertain but to relax; for experiencers, it offers a degree of insulation from a noisy, wandering world. Through sound and film, shared through broadcasting platforms such as YouTube, works of ASMR make room for close-looking, close-listening, and close-feeling.

ASMR injects the Internet with softness, kindness and empathy. As a form of digital intimacy, it offers comfort on demand, standing against the feeling of isolation that constant connectivity can deceptively breed. Anecdotally, ASMR is being used as a form of self-medication against the effects of loneliness, insomnia, stress, and anxiety. This is a cue to its success, and to its transcendental appeal.

The exhibition features a broad collection of “Unintentional-” and “Intentional-ASMR” in a cross-section of global ASMR culture. Alongside contributions by ASMRtists from around the world, the exhibition also features works by motion artists, product designers, sound artists, and the renowned television artist Bob Ross.

Participants in the exhibition
3Dio Sound, ANO ASMR, ASMRctica, Anders Tallsjö, Andreas Wannerstedt, Anson Fogel, Anthony Wilks, Björk, Bob Ross, Craig Richard, David Bull, FredsVoice ASMR, HaircutHarry, HidaMari Cooking, Holly Herndon + Claire Tolan, IKEA, Jennifer Allen, Life with MaK, Luca Iaconi-Stewart, Made in France ASMR, Marc Teyssier, MissASMR, PierreG ASMR, SHU AND TREE, The Slow Mo Guys, UNO ASMR, Wang & Söderström, WhisperingLife ASMR

Archive of Feelings
A “trigger” is a sound or an action that instils an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR). In collaboration with Are.na, we invite you to contribute to an Archive of Feelings, open until November 1, 2020.

Plug-in Poetry
Plug-in Poetry is a podcast series that presents the work of contemporary Swedish poets and writers, curated in partnership with Bon Magazine.

Face filter
A WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD face filter accompanies the exhibition. Try it on Instagram.

Boxen at ArkDes
Boxen is a platform for fast-changing, experimental projects at ArkDes. It provides space for alternative voices to inspire discussions about architecture, design, and their relationship to society by promoting radical and responsive installations, exhibitions, events and dialogues by and between architects, designers, and thinkers. Designed by the emerging architecture studio Dehlin Brattgård, Boxen opened in 2018.

Curator: James Taylor-Foster
Producer: Halla Sigurðardóttir
Exhibition Architects: ĒTER
Graphic Design: Irene Stracuzzi × PostNew
Installation: Markus Eberle, Stefan Mossfeldt with Simon Frid, Love Olsson, Vidar Ter Borch, Mikael Wettling
Producer (Programme): Elisabet Schön
Digital Communication: Justina Hüll

Production Team (Virtual Vernissage): Johan von Reybekiel, Andreas Holmgren, Erik Zidén, Viktor Annerstål
Developer (Archive of Feelings): Charles Broskoski
Developer (Face filter): Lucia Tahan
Curatorial/Production Team (Plug-in Poetry): Joakim Hultqvist, Justina Hüll, Esther Kirabo, Erica Lindberg, James Taylor-Foster