Yoga at the MoMA

File this one under: how did I miss this?? Elena Brower, one of my yoga teachers, held a class within an art installation at the MoMA back in February. The class was held in one of the upper atriums of the museum, where the exhibition Pour Your Body Out by Pipilotti Rist was installed. The experiential installation encompassed the entire atrium with 25-foot video projections of soft, feminine, abstract imagery. The artist also designed a circular couch as part of the exhibit to encourage visitors to fully absorb the piece. On the closing day of the installation, they held this yoga class to allow a handful of lucky participants to physcially connect with the art. I’ve often wished that I could experience exhibitions outside of the museum “vacuum.” Though museums are meant to be a clean lens through which we can view the art, it’s sometimes hard to get past the clean lens part. This installation seemed like the perfect opportunity to hold a yoga class. Participants could deepen the intense, sensory experience by biomechanically aligning their bodies in the yoga poses. Hopefully the MoMA will sponser more activities like this. Whether it’s yoga or something else, I’m a big fan of anything that encourages people to engage with art on deeper levels.