Openhouse & FRAMA at Soho News International
The Transformative Power of the Senses
We tend to conceive the senses as purely biological capacities— passive instruments we use daily to navigate the world, often without conscious thought. However, their nature runs deeper. The senses not only interpret the world around us; they have the capacity to transform it. They allow us to reimagine, reinterpret, and form new, unexpected connections with our surroundings.
Paying homage to this often overlooked transformative power of the senses, Openhouse and FRAMA present a joint installation at Soho News International in the form of a contemplative window display. Hosted at one of NYC’s most iconic kiosks, the collaboration brings together FRAMA’s Sculpture Garden Collection and Openhouse’s Issue No. 23, The Secret in Their Eyes. With both projects placing the senses at the forefront, the installation becomes an honest exploration of our sensory experience.
In the Editor’s Letter of Openhouse Magazine’s latest issue, the reader is invited to explore the layers of sight. Whether it is a movie, a book, a city or a room, there’s always a new layer of meaning that can be added, shifting our perspective and reshaping our understanding of a single moment. However, that meaning can emerge in many different ways. Perception, after all, is never fixed; it is shaped by the eyes that behold it.
Similarly, scent is able to add a profound richness to our environment. Engaging memory, space, and touch, it shapes our experiences and bridges the past and future. And when the senses converge, those experiences can be elevated to a completely new dimension. This is precisely what FRAMA evokes through the Sculpture Garden Collection: a sensory journey through the interplay of fragrance, texture, and memory.
Together, these elements converge at Soho News International, where, from May 15th to 22nd, visitors are invited to discover FRAMA’s Sculpture Garden Collection and Openhouse’s Issue No. 23, The Secret in Their Eyes. The collaborative window display sets “The Transformative Power of the Senses” at the forefront, creating a harmonious dialogue between sight, scent, and space.
Last Thursday, May 15th, the joint installation was unveiled with a celebration that took place at Soho News International, located at 186 Prince Street in NYC, from 11 am to 5 pm. Featuring drinks by Strange Water and Drink Ghia, the gathering wasn’t just an opening. Instead, it constituted an invitation to pause, sense, and take in how our faculties, when engaged together, can set the stage for a way of interacting with the world that feels heightened and more alive.
This partnership reminds us that when we pause to truly perceive, the world unfolds in nuanced, more resonant expressions.
