Hofmann University Chemistry Classroom
In his largest, most ambitious project to date, Cohen has created an immersive art installation that apes the aesthetic of a college chemistry classroom. The setting is his invented Hofmann University, named after eponymous Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, who discovered and first ingested LSD in the mid-twentieth century. Hofmann wrote extensively on the drug, calling it “sacred” and convinced it unlocked a deeper, more mystical reality for its users. Cohen’s University classroom is the inventive exhibition space, more appropriately site-specific than any white-walled gallery could be, to debut the new format of his Periodic Table of Drugs. Rather than re-display the individual 24 drug modules in a format that looks like the complicated table while still being comprised of separate pieces, this time Cohen has crafted one massive and continuous work. Apart from its identity as an exhibition space, the classroom itself is an integral aspect of the viewing experience: the room is bedecked with science equipment and school accoutrements like backpacks, notepads, student essays and exams. The textbooks are all related to narcotics and the edifying posters on the wall are parodies of typical science posters, illustrating themes related to drugs, rather than physics or traditional chemistry. Furthermore, for the opening reception of the show, Cohen himself will be a participant in the space, dressed in a lab coat and scientific goggles. This installation not only provides an environment to view Cohen’s series with some intellectual splatter but also explores the distinctions between art and life, and the power given to educational spaces by our unquestioning faith in them.
In his largest, most ambitious project to date, Cohen has created an immersive art installation that apes the aesthetic of a college chemistry classroom. The setting is his invented Hofmann University, named after eponymous Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, who discovered and first ingested LSD in the mid-twentieth century. Hofmann wrote extensively on the drug, calling it “sacred” and convinced it unlocked a deeper, more mystical reality for its users. Cohen’s University classroom is the inventive exhibition space, more appropriately site-specific than any white-walled gallery could be, to debut the new format of his Periodic Table of Drugs. Rather than re-display the individual 24 drug modules in a format that looks like the complicated table while still being comprised of separate pieces, this time Cohen has crafted one massive and continuous work. Apart from its identity as an exhibition space, the classroom itself is an integral aspect of the viewing experience: the room is bedecked with science equipment and school accoutrements like backpacks, notepads, student essays and exams. The textbooks are all related to narcotics and the edifying posters on the wall are parodies of typical science posters, illustrating themes related to drugs, rather than physics or traditional chemistry. Furthermore, for the opening reception of the show, Cohen himself will be a participant in the space, dressed in a lab coat and scientific goggles. This installation not only provides an environment to view Cohen’s series with some intellectual splatter but also explores the distinctions between art and life, and the power given to educational spaces by our unquestioning faith in them.
