James Taylor-Foster
Selected writing 2015 – 2023
  • About
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Curatorial
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, Stockholm
  • 2020
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2023
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, Stockholm

ASMR is a term that describes a physical sensation: euphoria or deep calm, sometimes a tingling in the body. 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. They do it by whispering or eating, touching or tapping, and more besides. This exhibition is the first dedicated to this feeling, and the emerging field of creativity that has grown up around it.


Scenographic sketch of a screen chandelier by ĒTER, featuring graphic works by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.
Fig 1. Scenographic sketch of a screen chandelier by ĒTER, featuring graphic works by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.

Fig 2. Plan of the exhibition, designed by ĒTER (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.

Fig 3. Unfolded plan of the exhibition design by ĒTER (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.


Fig 4. Section of the exhibition design by ĒTER within Boxen (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.


As little as a decade ago, ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) 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 bodily ‘feels’.

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 ot 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.

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD (Konstig känsla känns bra) is the first exhibition of its kind to lift ASMR out from your screen and into public space. Step into an acoustically tuned environment and understand how people are deploying new and existing tools and materials to negotiate a complex world.



Fig 5. A world of ASMR (Johan Dehlin, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 6. Weird sensation… feels good? (Johan Dehlin, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 7. A spa for the soul (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 8. A space for close-looking (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 9. A space for close-listening (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 10. A space for close-feeling (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 11. Exhibition poster designed by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew. Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 12. Exhibition posters designed by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew. Courtesy of ArkDes.


Participants

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



Fig 13. Exhibition guide, available here (PDF), designed by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew. Courtesy of ArkDes.

Performances

SOFT GOSSIP by Claire Tolan comprises two immersive sound performances: Many Tongues in the Evening: Chorus and One Tongue in the Morning: Meditation. Both performances explore themes of hospitality, riddles and gossip, as well as the discipline, intimacy, and close-contact of close-listening. The sunset performance on October 2, 2020 featured a whisper chorus while the sunrise meditation October 3, 2020 was a solo performance.



Fig 14. Claire Tolan during Many Tongues in the Evening: Chorus from SOFT GOSSIP (Klaudia Rychlik, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.


Fig 15. Claire Tolan and the Whisper Choir during Many Tongues in the Evening: Chorus from SOFT GOSSIP (Klaudia Rychlik, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.


The creative field of ASMR is an exploration of our experience of the material world. It is a world in which unexpected sounds can trigger unprovoked bodily responses, and where a closeness to objects and material culture can open up a new realm of feeling. In a Virtual ASMR Performance with Melinda Lauw broadcast live from Singapore on October 24, 2020, the co-founder of Whisperlodge subverted our assumed relationships to objects around us to offer a new way of experiencing our designed environment.



Fig 16. Melinda Lauw during a live, interactive virtual ASMR performance commissioned by ArkDes and broadcast on October 24, 2020. Courtesy of Melinda Lauw.


Fig 17. Screenshot from the top down camera during Melinda Lauw’s live, interactive virtual ASMR performance broadcast on October 24, 2020. Courtesy of Melinda Lauw.


Virtual Vernissage




Producer Halla Sigurðardóttir Exhibition Design ĒTER Graphic Design Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew Installation Markus Eberle, Stefan Mossfeldt Production (Programming) Elisabet Schön Digital Communication Justina Hüll Translation Astrid Trotzig Production Team for the Virtual Vernissage Johan von Reybekiel, Andreas Holmgren, Erik Zidén, Viktor Annerstål
The exhibition features an Archive of Feelings, created in collaboration with Are.na. Plug-in Poetry, a mini-podcast series with contemporary Swedish poets and their works, is a collaboration with Bon Magazine. An Instagram face filter accompanies the exhibition, designed by Irene Stracuzzi × PostNew and developed by Lucia Tahan.
A virtual vernissage was broadcast live from Stockholm on e-flux on April 07, 2020. A virtual tour of the exhibition is also available to watch as part of Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival. Listen to an episode of Konsten att vara (The Art of Being) with Clara Henry and Gustaf Jernberg about the exhibition on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (English and Swedish). Hear thoughts on ASMR at Soundcast, a podcast by Spotify, Acast, Nent and Bauer, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (English).
April 08 — November 01, 2020
Boxen,
ArkDes
The second incarnation of the exhibition opened at the Design Museum in London in 2022.
Selected Press The Guardian, Azure, The Architect’s Newspaper, Domus, Surface, tv4, Sveriges Radio P1, Helsinki Sanomat, Engadget, de Volkskrant, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Nowness (China), Dezeen (Virtual Design Festival), ArchDaily, arterritory, RTS (Switzerland), FranceInfo, TV Monde, Current Obsession, Soft Talk (RAUM), exhibition design shortlisted for the 2020 Dezeen Awards, xtingles Special Tings #18

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Are.na

James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
  • CuratorialI.
  • ProjectsII.
  • PublicationsIII.
  • SpeakingIV.
  • WritingV.
I.Curatorial
  • ✶ WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, London2022
  • ✶ Mira Bergh × Josefin Zachrisson: Utomhusverket2022
  • ✶ The Limits of Our World: LARP and Design2022
  • ✶ Solicited: Proposals2021
  • ✶ Studio Ossidiana: Utomhusverket2021
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, Stockholm2020
  • Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron + Brunnsparken2019
  • Cruising Pavilion: Architecture, Gay Sex, Cruising Culture2019
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design2019
  • Petra Gipp and Mikael Olsson; Sigurd Lewerentz – Freestanding2018
  • Space Popular: Value in the Virtual2018
  • You Are Not Alone2017
  • In Therapy2016
  • Keeping Up Appearances2015
II.Projects
  • ASMR, An Exhibition Trailer2022
  • Watch & Chill 2.0: Streaming Senses2022
  • ASMRology2021
  • Plug-in Poesi2020
  • Interdependence: Stockholm and pandemia2020
  • Future Architecture Rooms2020
  • SOFT GOSSIP2020
  • Mukbang Veneziano2020
  • Körper2019
  • Architecture on Display2018
  • Boxen at ArkDes2018
  • The Stones of Venice: A Kimono2017
  • Misunderstandings (A Reliquary)2016
III.Publications
  • ✶ softspot2021
  • Living on Water2017
  • Elemental Living2016
  • People, Place, Purpose2015
IV.Speaking
  • ✶ Scaffold #612022
  • Salons, The New Architecture School2022
  • ✶ Protagonist of the Erotic: A Bed2022
  • OAT Academy, Curating Architecture2022
  • ✶ Protagonist of the Erotic: An Island2021
  • A Future for Exhibitions2021
  • Future Architecture CEx2020 Focus Talks2020
  • Modevisningar är den flyktigaste formen av arkitektur2018
  • Exhibition Models2017
V.Writing
  • Wang & Söderström: Royal Chambers2023
  • Studio Ossidiana on the Sentimental Scale of the City2022
  • A Strange Sort of Weight2021
  • What’s Mine Is Theirs: an interview with Max Lamb2020
  • ✶ Screen Glow Sedation2020
  • No Time to Stand and Stare2020
  • On Norra Tornen2020
  • ✶ Don’t Fear a Snowflake2020
  • In Riga, A Conference On Architecture and Migration2019
  • On Practical Futurology2019
  • Foreword: On the Manifesto2019
  • Making Believe with Charlap Hyman & Herrero2019
  • ✶ To Speak As If In Capital Letters2019
  • Baltoscandia: A Complex Utopia2018
  • ✶ Virgil Abloh, Editor in Brief2018
  • A Weak Monument2018
  • Sigurd Lewerentz: Villa Edstrand2018
  • On the Cruising Pavilion2018
  • A Diary of Virgil Abloh’s First Louis Vuitton Show2018
  • ✶ The Boat is Leaking. The Captain Lied.2018
  • Concrete Mountain2017
  • ✶ On Liquid Modernity2017
  • ✶ #003399, #FFCC00; The Meaning of a Flag2017
  • Pillars of Society: “Jantelagen”2017
  • Exhibiting the Postmodern2017
  • Future Architecture and the Idea of Europe2017
  • Domains of Influence2017
  • Ingress: Black Rock City2017
  • In Dialogue With Gravity2017
  • Rem, Redacted2016
  • Media States, Or The State of Media2016
  • A Piece of England to Call One’s Own2016
  • Upon This Rock (I Will Build My Church)2016
  • The Design of the Species2016
  • Venice Isn’t Sinking, It’s Flooding2016
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2023
Curatorial
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, Stockholm 2020
  • at Boxen (ArkDes) with ĒTER Architects, Irene Stracuzzi and PostNew
Back

ASMR is a term that describes a physical sensation: euphoria or deep calm, sometimes a tingling in the body. 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. They do it by whispering or eating, touching or tapping, and more besides. This exhibition is the first dedicated to this feeling, and the emerging field of creativity that has grown up around it.


Scenographic sketch of a screen chandelier by ĒTER, featuring graphic works by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.
Fig 1. Scenographic sketch of a screen chandelier by ĒTER, featuring graphic works by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.

Fig 2. Plan of the exhibition, designed by ĒTER (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.

Fig 3. Unfolded plan of the exhibition design by ĒTER (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.


Fig 4. Section of the exhibition design by ĒTER within Boxen (2020). Courtesy of ĒTER.


As little as a decade ago, ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) 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 bodily ‘feels’.

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 ot 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.

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD (Konstig känsla känns bra) is the first exhibition of its kind to lift ASMR out from your screen and into public space. Step into an acoustically tuned environment and understand how people are deploying new and existing tools and materials to negotiate a complex world.



Fig 5. A world of ASMR (Johan Dehlin, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 6. Weird sensation… feels good? (Johan Dehlin, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 7. A spa for the soul (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 8. A space for close-looking (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 9. A space for close-listening (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 10. A space for close-feeling (Elsa Soläng, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 11. Exhibition poster designed by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew. Courtesy of ArkDes.

Fig 12. Exhibition posters designed by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew. Courtesy of ArkDes.


Participants

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



Fig 13. Exhibition guide, available here (PDF), designed by Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew. Courtesy of ArkDes.

Performances

SOFT GOSSIP by Claire Tolan comprises two immersive sound performances: Many Tongues in the Evening: Chorus and One Tongue in the Morning: Meditation. Both performances explore themes of hospitality, riddles and gossip, as well as the discipline, intimacy, and close-contact of close-listening. The sunset performance on October 2, 2020 featured a whisper chorus while the sunrise meditation October 3, 2020 was a solo performance.



Fig 14. Claire Tolan during Many Tongues in the Evening: Chorus from SOFT GOSSIP (Klaudia Rychlik, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.


Fig 15. Claire Tolan and the Whisper Choir during Many Tongues in the Evening: Chorus from SOFT GOSSIP (Klaudia Rychlik, 2020). Courtesy of ArkDes.


The creative field of ASMR is an exploration of our experience of the material world. It is a world in which unexpected sounds can trigger unprovoked bodily responses, and where a closeness to objects and material culture can open up a new realm of feeling. In a Virtual ASMR Performance with Melinda Lauw broadcast live from Singapore on October 24, 2020, the co-founder of Whisperlodge subverted our assumed relationships to objects around us to offer a new way of experiencing our designed environment.



Fig 16. Melinda Lauw during a live, interactive virtual ASMR performance commissioned by ArkDes and broadcast on October 24, 2020. Courtesy of Melinda Lauw.


Fig 17. Screenshot from the top down camera during Melinda Lauw’s live, interactive virtual ASMR performance broadcast on October 24, 2020. Courtesy of Melinda Lauw.


Virtual Vernissage




Producer Halla Sigurðardóttir Exhibition Design ĒTER Graphic Design Irene Stracuzzi ✕ PostNew Installation Markus Eberle, Stefan Mossfeldt Production (Programming) Elisabet Schön Digital Communication Justina Hüll Translation Astrid Trotzig Production Team for the Virtual Vernissage Johan von Reybekiel, Andreas Holmgren, Erik Zidén, Viktor Annerstål
The exhibition features an Archive of Feelings, created in collaboration with Are.na. Plug-in Poetry, a mini-podcast series with contemporary Swedish poets and their works, is a collaboration with Bon Magazine. An Instagram face filter accompanies the exhibition, designed by Irene Stracuzzi × PostNew and developed by Lucia Tahan.
A virtual vernissage was broadcast live from Stockholm on e-flux on April 07, 2020. A virtual tour of the exhibition is also available to watch as part of Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival. Listen to an episode of Konsten att vara (The Art of Being) with Clara Henry and Gustaf Jernberg about the exhibition on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (English and Swedish). Hear thoughts on ASMR at Soundcast, a podcast by Spotify, Acast, Nent and Bauer, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (English).
April 08 — November 01, 2020
Boxen,
ArkDes
The second incarnation of the exhibition opened at the Design Museum in London in 2022.
Selected Press The Guardian, Azure, The Architect’s Newspaper, Domus, Surface, tv4, Sveriges Radio P1, Helsinki Sanomat, Engadget, de Volkskrant, Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Nowness (China), Dezeen (Virtual Design Festival), ArchDaily, arterritory, RTS (Switzerland), FranceInfo, TV Monde, Current Obsession, Soft Talk (RAUM), exhibition design shortlisted for the 2020 Dezeen Awards, xtingles Special Tings #18

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