By Karen Rubin
The holidays are a special time to be in the heart of New York City.
Take the walk to see the animated windows and the holiday lights at Rockefeller Center (it’s best after 5 pm in the dark): My route typically starts at Macy’s on 34th Street, then up to Fifth Avenue to visit Lord & Taylor’s (both of these have nostalgic New York City themes this year), then up to Saks Fifth Avenue (celebrating the 80th anniversary of Snow White, with a light show that covers the entire building with Disney music) and Rockefeller Center, then up to Bergdorf Goodman (stunning displays that pay homage to New York City’s iconic institutions including the New-York Historical Society and the American Museum of Natural History.
Indeed, these places are ideal to visit during the holidays, with special displays.
American Museum of Natural History: Our Senses: An Immersive Experience
The smell of chestnuts roasting, the twinkling lights on a holiday tree, the taste of hot chocolate, the feel of snow flakes falling on your face, and was that Santa in his sleigh flying across the moon? Our senses are particularly acute in this season. And how that happens is the subject of the new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, which also has its traditional holiday displays.
You are in a room. There’s a mural on the wall with drawings of animals. There is red light and you see a set of animals; then the light turns blue and you see a different set of animals.
In another room, you try to build blocks looking through glasses that turn them upside down. It’s disorienting, and that’s the point.
In another room, you are tricked into thinking two squares on a checkerboard are different shades of grey, when in fact, they are the same.
In another room, you feel off balance by the swiggles of black lines on the walls that don’t equate with the flat floor you are standing on.
In another, you push a button to see the vivid, fluorescent colors of a flower as a bee would see them.
The new, highly experiential exhibition Our Senses: An Immersive Experience is a series of 11 funhouse-like galleries that dare visitors to rely on their senses—and then reveal how and why what we perceive is not all, or exactly, what’s actually occurring around us. Inspired by extraordinary diversity of sensory “super powers” in various species including humans, Our Senses takes experiential exhibition to a new level.
“Our senses are essential to how we live and make sense of the world around us. They provide pleasure, warn us of danger, and allow us to interact with one another,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. “But how exactly do they work, why did they evolve the way they did, and what things are we not able to sense or perceive accurately? In a kind of ‘sequel’ to our 2010 exhibition about the brain, Our Senses: An Immersive Experience will explore the intriguing power of our sensory perceptions, offering our visitors not only highly enjoyable learning experiences, but an enriched perspective on what makes us human.”
She adds, “Spoiler alert: we have way more than five senses.”
“In a way, this exhibit is a sequel and extension of the 2010 exhibit about The Brain and cognition [both curated by Rob Desalle]. While senses gather information and are highly evolved capacities, we can’t make sense of our world without the brain.” That is the role of prior learning, prior experience, culture, which prime our senses, focus our attention, and trigger the brain to interpret and perceive and combine the different stimuli into a message, idea, concept, action.
Human senses and human brains, adapted over millennia to help our ancestors survive by shaping and enhancing their perceptions of everyday encounters. Our Senses reveals how until recently in our evolutionary history, humans have been oblivious to some of nature’s ubiquitous signals, including UV and infrared light, very high- and very low-frequency sounds, and electric fields. With the advent of new technologies, scientists now know those signals are all around us—whether or not perceptible to us through our senses alone. But detecting things is not enough, because our ears and eyes alone cannot create a conscious perception—that requires a human brain. Human sensory perceptions may seem like windows into the outside world, but actual perceptions are created in the brain.
You walk through 11 interactive galleries designed to test perceptions and illuminate the complex relationships between sensing and perceiving. A musical soundtrack customized for each space enhances the immersive experience.
The exhibit is laid out in a way that will particularly appeal to younger people – they will particularly love the puzzles and illusions – providing an understanding of how they perceive the world that will be foundational to learning. But adults, giving more intense look, will find some up-to-the-minute research: for example, that birds can regenerate the cilia in the ear that if humans lose it, lose their hearing, so scientists are studying if cilia can also be regenerated in humans; that male peacocks don’t just use their stunning plumage to visually attract a mate, they move it so it produces a sound, imperceptible to humans, but that is attractive to females.
There is a 20-minute live presentation that really brings home the message: we have more than five senses, the ones that we use to navigate the outer world and let us know where we are in space. We also have inner senses that monitor when we are hungry, thirsty, tired, oxygen-deprived and need to breathe. Every animal – even single-cell animals – have some senses and many animals have senses that are superior to humans, humans are the only animal (that we know of) that can imagine and communicate.
“No other animal can conjure up whole scene using complex signals. Only humans can create imaginary sensory perception and share through language. For example, only humans can make up a story and share it,” the presenter tells us.
“Humans don’t just take information into the brain, we can send information out. We can imagine a sensory experience and make it real: create food, fashion, art, architecture, machines, melody and manuscripts. Most sensory experiences we have are products of our imagination. We don’t just experience what is – we create what we imagine, then share it with others.”
“Nothing makes sense in the absence of evolution,” DeSalle says. He points to the fact that single-cell animals have a primordial sense of touch, they can determine where they are in space. “Our senses go back 3.5 billion years, to the origin of life.”
“Our brain and senses have evolved so that the brain can process what the senses take in with rapid response,” he says. “Because of the way brain evolved, we have some wild ways of dealing with information… Sometimes there is conflict between the brain and signals the senses receive (there are examples in the exhibit) – where we are primed to see something else, but interpret based on what we already sense. That is Evolution: to deal with rapid response.”
For example, the exhibit shows how we are primed to focus – based on internal needs, experience or habit or prompts– in order to break through the clutter of sights and sounds.
Senses are our source of information about the world, without which, we wouldn’t be able to survive. Take the sense of smell, for example, which helps us determine which food is edible, and which is rotten and could cause disease.
There is an incredible spectrum of the capabilities of senses – many animals’ senses exceed our own; humans have a particular space on the spectrum. For example, humans see only a narrow range of light compared to other animals and do not have very sensitive touch. But humans build machines that allow us to sense beyond our range – think of microscopes, telescopes, night-vision glasses, hearing aids, cochlea implants.
You need at least 1 ½ hours to go through – even more if you want to do the immersive activities. And it is helpful to go through once, but then go back and spend more time reading the explanations.
Entrance is by a timed ticket (free with admission), which you can obtain online before you come, or when you arrive at the museum. Our Senses is on view through January 6, 2019.
There’s still time to take in the extraordinary “Mummies” exhibit, on view until Jan. 7, 2018 (admission by timed ticket; need the General Admission Plus 1).
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, is open daily (except Thanksgiving and Christmas), 10 am–5:45 pm. For additional information, call 212-769-5100 or visit the Museum’s website at amnh.org. Become a fan of the American Museum of Natural History on Facebook at facebook.com/naturalhistory, follow on Instagram at @AMNH, Tumblr at amnhnyc, or Twitter at twitter.com/AMNH.
New York-Historical Society Has Score of Exhibits for Holidays into New Year
The New York-Historical Society is presenting its traditional holiday display of toys and trains. But the holidays also offer a last-chance to view an exhibit about John F. Kennedy, and Arthur Szyk, Soldier in Art. The museum has a huge range of exhibits as well as special programming and events, including:
Holiday Express: Toys and Trains from the Jerni Collection, now on view through February 25, 2018
A magical wonderland awaits visitors with the return of this holiday tradition. Featuring hundreds of toy trains, figurines, and miniature models from the renowned Jerni Collection, the exhibition’s immersive scenes and displays transport young and old alike to a bygone era. Holiday Express begins at the West 77th Street entrance, where trains appear to roar through the Museum with the help of four large-scale multimedia screens, and extends through large swaths of the first floor.
Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art, on view through January 21, 2018. Arthur Szyk, the great 20th-century activist in art, confronted the threats that filled the years around World War II—Nazism, the escalating plight of European Jews, Fascism, Japanese militarism, and racism—with forceful artistic depictions caricaturing Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito as the evil architects of their regimes’ destructive and inhumane policies. More than 40 politically incisive works on view underscore the Polish-born artist’s role as a “one man army” fighting odious policies and protagonists and advocating for civil and human rights.
American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times, on view through January 7, 2018. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth, American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times brings together more than 75 images that capture the dramatic scope of Kennedy’s life culled from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Getty Images, private collections, and the Kennedy family archives. No single politician was photographed more than Kennedy—from his first congressional bid as a decorated war hero in 1946 and his fairy-tale wedding to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953 to his run for the White House in 1960, his subsequent role as commander-in-chief, and his tragic death in Dallas in 1963.
Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence, now on view through March 11, 2018, showcases hand-drawn and engraved maps from the 18th and early 19th centuries that illuminate the tremendous changes—geographic, political, and economic—that occurred before, during, and just after the Revolutionary War. The exhibition features rarely displayed manuscripts and printed maps from New-York Historical’s own premier collection, including the original manuscript surveys of Robert Erskine, Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army, and his successor Simeon De Witt. Also on display is John Jay’s personal copy of John Mitchell’s Map of the British and French Dominions in North America (1755) to which red lines representing proposed boundaries were added during the negotiations of the Treaty of Paris, 1782–83. This exhibition was organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library as We Are One: Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence .
Hotbed, on view through March 25, 2018. In the early 20th century, Greenwich Village was a hotbed of political activism and social change—where men and women joined forces across the boundaries of class and race to fight for a better world. At the heart of the downtown radicals’ crusade lay women’s rights: to control their own bodies, to do meaningful work, and above all, to vote. Celebrating the centennial of women’s right to vote in New York and on view in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery, Hotbed features immersive installations and more than 100 artifacts and images—drawn from New-York Historical’s archives and several private collections—that bring to life the neighborhood’s bohemian scene and energetic activist spirit.
The Vietnam War: 1945 – 1975, on view through April 22, 2018. A groundbreaking look at one of the most controversial events of the 20th century. Featuring interpretive displays, digital media, artwork, artifacts, photographs, and documents, The Vietnam War: 1945 – 1975 provides an enlightening account of the causes, progression, and impact of the war. Spanning the duration of U.S. involvement in Indochina, the narrative incorporates perspectives covering both the home and the war fronts. Displays touch upon the Cold War, the draft, military campaigns initiated by both sides, the growth of the antiwar movement, the role of the president, and the loss of political consensus. Throughout the exhibition, visitors explore themes of patriotism, duty, and citizenship. Key objects include a troopship berthing unit, interactive murals, vibrant antiwar posters, artwork by Vietnam vets, a Viet Cong bicycle, the Pentagon Papers, and news and film clips.
Audubon’s Birds of America Focus Gallery. In this intimate gallery, visitors see first-hand John James Audubon’s spectacular watercolor models for the 435 plates of The Birds of America (1827–38) with their corresponding plates from the double-elephant-folio series, engraved by Robert Havell Jr. Each month, the exhibition rotates to highlight new species—featured in the order they appear in Audubon’s publication—which showcase the artist’s creative process and his contributions to ornithological illustration. Other works from New-York Historical’s collection, the world’s largest repository of Auduboniana, illuminate Audubon’s process, and bird calls, courtesy of The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, echoing through the gallery animate the environment. In December, we welcome the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and in January, Prothonotary Warbler will be on display (ongoing).
New Fourth Floor: Objects Tell Stories, the Gallery of Tiffany Lamps, and More. Explore American history through stunning exhibitions and captivating interactive media on our transformed fourth floor. Themed displays in the North Gallery present a variety of topics—such as slavery, war, infrastructure, childhood, recreation, and 9/11—offering unexpected and surprising perspectives on collection highlights. Touchscreens and interactive kiosks allow visitors to explore American history and engage with objects like never before. As the centerpiece of the fourth floor, the Gallery of Tiffany Lamps features 100 illuminated Tiffany lampshades from our spectacular collection displayed within a dramatically lit jewel-like space. Within our new Center for Women’s History, visitors discover the hidden connections among exceptional and unknown women who left their mark on New York and the nation with the multimedia digital installation, Women’s Voices, and through rotating exhibitions in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery. Objects from the Billie Jean King Archive are also on view (ongoing).
Collector’s Choice: Highlights from the Permanent Collection. Since 1804, the New-York Historical Society has been welcoming to its collection some of the most esteemed artworks of the modern world. Collector’s Choice: Highlights from the Permanent Collection showcases a selection of paintings that reflect the individual tastes of several New York City collectors who donated their holdings to New-York Historical. Joining Picasso’s Le Tricorne ballet curtain are featured American and European masterpieces spanning the 14th through the 21st centuries from Luman Reed, Thomas Jefferson Bryan, and Robert L. Stuart, including colonial portraits of children, marine and maritime subjects, and an installation showcasing recently collected contemporary works (ongoing).
The Museum will be closed on Monday, December 25 and will close at 3 pm on December 24 and 31. The Museum will be open on Monday, January 1 and on Monday, January 15, 2018. The Museum will open at 3 pm on Saturday, January 20.
Admission: Adults: $21; Teachers and Seniors: $16; Students: $13; Children (5–13): $6; Children (4 and under): Free; Pay-as-you-wish Fridays from 6 pm – 8 pm.
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (at 77th Street), New York, NY 10024, www.nyhistory.org, (212) 873-3400
Candlelight Evenings at Old Bethpage Village Restoration
For an all-too brief, magical moment, you are transported back in time. You leave the visitor center, walk down a path. The electric lights disappear. There is only firelight along the path into the village of 19th century homes, school house, church, general store.
This is the Candlelight Evening at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, where for only five special evenings (Dec. 26-30, 18, 5-9 pm), you get to experience traditional music performances, crafts (like making Christmas ornaments as they did in 1841).
There is music by local schools and organizations, an 1866 decorated Christmas tree, a holiday brass quartet and old-time fiddle music, Civil War era Christmas songs, contra-dancing (join in(), stories of Christmases past, a traditional bonfire and hot apple cider. A candle light procession into the village opens the festivities each night at 5:15 pm.
Old Bethpage Village Restoration, 1303 Round Swamp Road (Exit 48 of the Long Island Expressway), 516-572-8401; Adults/$10, children 5-12/$7 (under 5 are free); and $7 for seniors and volunteer firefighters.
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