Iris van Herpen’s comprehensive exhibition Sculpting the Senses, shaped at the intersection of fashion, science, and art, will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum from May 16 to December 6, 2026, featuring more than 140 haute couture designs.
One of the most original designers working at the intersection of fashion, science, and art, Iris van Herpen presents her large-scale exhibition Sculpting the Senses at the Brooklyn Museum from May 16 to December 6, 2026. The exhibition marks the first North American stop of this major touring presentation.
Organized by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and gaining a new context through the Brooklyn Museum’s long-standing tradition of fashion exhibitions, Sculpting the Senses centers on the designer’s experimental approach that redefines twenty-first-century fashion. The exhibition brings together more than 140 haute couture designs alongside contemporary artworks and natural history specimens.
Iris van Herpen’s designs are approached not merely as wearable objects, but as spaces constructed for the body. Laser-cut surfaces, layered polymers, and translucent synthetic materials shift form with movement, creating a structure that responds to the body. Throughout the exhibition, the garments are positioned as sculptural forms that appear almost independent of gravity.
The production processes are presented openly to the viewer as an integral part of the designs. Three-dimensional printing, hand pleating, and experimental binding techniques stand out as defining elements of the aesthetic language. This approach demonstrates that Van Herpen’s practice is not confined to fashion, but is shaped on common ground with industrial design and architecture.
In Pursuit of Scientific Imagination
The exhibition unfolds through a framework informed by marine biology, anatomy, physics, and astronomy. The gallery layout establishes a narrative line that extends from the ocean to outer space across these scientific fields. Fossils, skeletal structures, and objects related to optical experiments are placed alongside couture designs, making visible the sources that feed Van Herpen’s creative process.
Works by artists such as Philip Beesley, Rogan Brown, Casey Curran, Kim Keever, and Nick Knight are included in the exhibition as part of this multilayered narrative. A sound installation by Salvador Breed and rare archival materials further deepen the experience on a sensory level.
Worn by figures such as Beyoncé, Björk, Cate Blanchett, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande, Iris van Herpen’s designs reflect an aesthetic informed by biomimicry, fractal geometry, mathematics, and neuroscience. Sculpting the Senses invites viewers on a journey shaped by the fluidity of water, the physics of movement, and the perception of sound and light.
