Alex McNutt, Student Work

Sense: Touch
from the book A Natural History of The Senses by Diane Ackerman
I chose to create my hallway installation based on the sense of touch. Yarn World was built February 17, 2014. I wanted to create an enclosed space where you could not avoid being touched. In the book "A Natural History of the Senses" Diane Ackerman talks about hair being a receptor of touch. When something is close to our bodies our hairs get all tingly and sends information to our brain that something is there. Yarn World was supposed to be a kind of claustrophobic touch overload. When you step inside Yarn World you are being touched by thousands of strands of yarn coming from all sides.

The part of the book that I took the most inspiration from was the section titled "Adventures in the Touch Dome." Mostly I just think that is a great title. I imagine a giant dome packed full of different objects to touch, all the different textures and consistencies. That is essentially what you do at San Francisco's Touch Dome apparently.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/west-gallery/tactile-dome

In the Tactile Dome you explore the pitch darkness using only your sense of touch. Yarn World is a similar concept. I created Yarn World by covering the brown floor and skirting the walls with white paper which I taped to the top of each wall. I then created a false ceiling out of foam board to hide the pipes above as well as to give a surface to attach yarn to. Using multi-colored duct tape I taped strips of yarn which I cut to reach just above the floor to the foam board ceiling above. I used 12 rolls of yarn and calculated that there are over 1000 strings of yarn hanging. I then hung a thick yellow curtain in front of the yarn with an opening so that you have to enter into the curtain to find the yarn. Over the top of the curtain I created a sign on foam board to seal the top of the curtain and invite guests in.

I wanted Yarn World to be playful and have almost an amusement park feeling but also be a little intimidating and make the guests feel uneasy about being inside the tiny space.