Feb
23
Exhibition: Love Lab - The Science Gallery, Dublin
The Science Gallery’s reputation for exhibitions that fuse visitor interaction with some genuinely interesting science and art has grown steadily since its 2008 opening. Late last year we found ourselves wondering its ‘infected’ corridors in the midst of a swine flu outbreak, experiencing the spread of the disease through an electronic tagging system (a piece of timing that made it oddly relevant), while this year’s season of romance sees the gallery experiment with the most intimate of feelings: love.
Genetics, senses, uncontrollable urges (no, not that kind, this is a strictly PG exhibition) and how love changes with age are all subjects for these glances into desire. It’s a highly interactive experience, with experiments like ‘look into my eyes’ investigating your feelings towards those who simply glance in your direction compared to those who seem to look into your soul. ‘Sweet nothings’ investigates your reaction to various tones of voice, allowing you to measure your capacity to judge attractiveness (subjective, of course), through only your ears. Perhaps the most intriguing of the experiments is the ‘scentsational’ exhibit, though it did have a bit of a flaw…
As a (straight) man, I found the exhibition a little too focused on exploring the attitudes of those who prefer men. The ‘scentsationals’ exhibition, for example, revolved around smelling men’s worn t-shirts, and while it’s interesting to know how much attraction revolves around smell, a close up encounter with a gym changing room doesn’t really appeal – or even work - for at least to 50% of us. Equally, if you’re going to take part in the ‘turning heads’ experiment, you’d better be either single or willing to twist the results in a particularly unscientific way.
Having said that, the chance to experience a form of ‘art’ that doubles as a genuinely interactive science experimental is always this venue’s forte, and getting a sense of your own as yet unexplained actions in the love stakes is worth a trip alone. If you want to make it extra special, you could even head along for Leviathan (a debate on whether science can predict love – 26/02) or a more scientific version of Blind Date, where they’ll match you up based on theory rather than practise (04/03). You’ll need to pre-book for both.
So can you distil love down to a science? On a complex, hormonal level it seems there’s an argument that you can, though there are plenty of questions left unanswered. If you want to find (or test!) your partner based on their genetic make up, voice or even walk, though, you’ve come to the right place.
Love Lab runs to March 12th
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