Despite the publication date of this post, this is no April Fool’s joke—though we hope the Surprise Exhibit brought laughter and smiles to many.
Produced by the Albacete Forum for the 2022 New York Encounter, The Surprise Exhibit looked at our everyday experiences of surprise and what they tell us about ourselves and our relationship with reality. Combining original artwork with short videos, historical objects, quotes, and interactive experiences, the exhibit invited visitors to look at life’s surprises and to examine the ambivalent attitudes we commonly have toward the new and unforeseen. Several quotes from Lorenzo Albacete’s writings were interwoven with these riches and acted as an informal guide to the meaning of the exhibit.
The exhibit space was designed to be aesthetically enticing, airy, and provocative. One visitor described the experience of going through the Surprise Exhibit as “fun and strange, like walking through a weird murder-mystery.” In fact, the exhibit was a whodunnit of sorts—where do all of the surprises we experience come from and who gives them to us?
Everywhere there was something to catch the eye and take visitors by surprise—through beauty, or humor, or by an unexpected question. One benefit of this approach was that the exhibit could be experienced on multiple levels and by everyone, young or old. It was both family-friendly and intellectually challenging.
At one moment, you might open a box and be confronted by Big Foot (a favorite of young visitors)...