Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses

Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses is a touring retrospective of the Dutch couturier, celebrated as one of fashion's most forward-thinking figures for fusing haute couture craftsmanship with cutting-edge technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting. The exhibition showcases more than 140 haute couture creations alongside coral, fossils, and skeletons that are placed in dialogue with van Herpen's designs and that inform her creative process. The show explores the body in space, human identity, and possible futures in a rapidly changing world, along with the body's relationship to its environment. Van Herpen's fascination with the brain, particularly synaesthesia and altered states of consciousness like lucid dreaming and hypnosis, pushes the exhibition beyond a purely visual experience of clothing and toward an exploration of amplified perception. Originally organized by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, 2024, the exhibition has traveled internationally. Following its Paris debut, it moved to the Queensland Art Gallery​/​Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, the ArtScience Museum in Singapore, and Kunsthal in Rotterdam. It made its North American debut at the Brooklyn Museum in 2026, timed to the museum's marking van Herpen's first major New York exhibition. The Brooklyn presentation continues the museum's long tradition of major fashion exhibitions, and underscores its commitment to celebrating pioneering women in art and design.