The Museum of Feelings – Turn Emotions Into Art
The first thing you should know about the Museum of Feelings, a pop-up "experience" that recently opened in Battery Park City and runs through December 15, is that it is not a museum. There is nothing educational, or instructive here. No artifacts or works of art (though that depends on how you define art, I guess). No history, or science, or insight into the human condition. What the Museum of Feelings IS is an advertisement for Glade air freshener products, especially, it seems, their scented candles. True, it's a expensive, elaborate advertisement, but it's an ad all the same. The second thing to know is that it's free, it's a selfie machine, and it's a lot of fun. Whether it's worth waiting on what I've heard can be a daunting line in order to take a photo of yourself and your crew in a "lavender and vanilla"-smelling room shrouded in purple mist… well, that's up to you.
Welcome To The Museum of Feelings
The Museum of Feelings is located outside the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place, right next to the ice skating rink. Yes, there's a LOT going on around here these days, including a lovely, seasonal lighting display among the palm trees inside, called Luminaries, and designed by the Lab at Rockwell Group. Anyway, the Museum of Feelings is housed in a 5,300-square-foot portable building overlooking the plaza and marina, with the interior divided into a series of corridors and "galleries", each depicting a different mood via scent (of course) and some sort of interactive, light- and/or color-based display. At the end there's a photobooth-type apparatus with which you can make a "moodlens" (to be honest I didn't really understand what this was), a long aroma table where you can smell all the smells, and a gift booth where you can buy candles.
What To Expect At The Museum Of Feelings
The best of these mood rooms–there are five or six in all–are definitely fun for about four minutes. The "Joyful" room has the piped-in smells of pine and cinnamon, which is clearly supposed to evoke Christmas, but the design of the space, thick with hanging, LED-lit green rubber strings, feels more like you're being swallowed up by an anemone. In a good way. Another cool gallery is the red room with all of the kaleidoscopes and mirrors (I can't remember what mood or scent this was, just that it was kind of neat to look at and semi-control via touchscreens), and the "Invigorated" dance-party area, with jaggedy halos bouncing around everyone's feet, is also engaging. Combined with a treat from any number of the appealing food options in Brookfield Place, the Museum of Feelings makes for a decent destination, with kids or without.
For More Information On The Museum Of Feelings
The Museum of Feelings is located just outside the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City, and is open Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and on Sundays from 11:00 to 7:00. Through December 15 only.
Posted in manhattan living, NYC Events |
