
WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD
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.
WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD is the first museum exhibition dedicated to this feeling and the emerging field of creativity that has grown up around it. 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 not 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 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.

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 →
Archive of Feelings
Click here to contribute to an anonymous archive of ASMR triggers! Your responses will become part of the Archive of Feelings, created in collaboration with Are.na. Developed by Charles Broskoski.
Plug-in Poetry
ArkDes and Bon Magazine have invited Swedish poets and writers to read their works as ASMR. Hear the podcast series and read interviews with the artists here →
Pillow Talks
Dive into a collection of conversations with voices in and around the creative field ASMR →
SOFT GOSSIP by Claire Tolan
Take part in two live ASMR performances (October 3-4, 2020) with programmer and sound artist Claire Tolan →
On the Potential of ASMR
Experience a conversation between Claire Tolan and the artist Sonia Sagan on the potential of ASMR →
A Virtual ASMR Performance
Experience a live virtual ASMR performance (October 24, 2020) created and led by Melinda Lauw →
Making a Work of ASMR
Follow a three-part film presenting the work and process of ASMRctica, one of Sweden’s largest ASMRtists. You can watch parts one and two here →
Face Filter
Click here to try the WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD Instagram face filter, designed by Irene Stracuzzi and PostNew and developed by Lucia Tahan →
Curator: James Taylor-Foster
Exhibition 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
The exhibition title references the first online discussion about this sensation in 2007, later coined as “ASMR” by Jennifer Allen in 2010.
Images from the exhibition



















