This wing is dedicated to art which transcends the usual categorization of "abstract" and "representational" art. It contains some pieces designed to be pleasing to alien senses, some pieces designed to set the viewer up to imagine other senses, and some pieces which metaphorically represent alien sensory modalities.
This painting, titled "Sea-storm at night", is designed to present the image of a lightning striking in a thunderstorm on the coast. While at first it may appear completely black, close inspection will reveal the irregularity of the surface and the glint of the inclusions within the paint. These are both a side-effect of the technique that Noriŋ used to make the painting magnetic. Noriŋ used thick paint made with finely-ground hematite, which was allowed to set one section at a time under the influence of strong electromagnets, to align the weak magnetic fields of the hematite particles appropriately to each part of the image.
Displayed on the opposite wall, to your west, is a one-to-one scale colorization of the magnetic field lines of the painting. Note how the patterns of inductance from the central stroke of lightning show the different materials composing the scene. The (fresh) rainwater, the salty seawater, and the rocks all have different levels of electrical conductivity, which in turn impact how the magnetic field propagates through the image.
As you proceed south, you will pass a doorway on your west which leads to our[ex] collection of infrared and ultraviolet photography.
This painting by Mosekeni depicts their struggles with explaining tetrachromatism to other people. It shows a hooded figure holding out a bright yellow flower to a child who is glancing between the flower and a picture of a yellow flower on their phone. To most people, the flower on the phone and in the figure's hand look identical. People with tetrachromatism may notice a difference in the pigments used for each one. The paint used for the flower is derived from a natural floral yellow pigment, whereas the paint used for the picture of the flower is mixed red and green paint.
This bas-relief sculpture is an attempt by an anonymous late 4,0500s artist to use sound to lend greater depth to an otherwise fairly shallow sculpture. The uses of inlaid wood, metal, and glass change the acoustic properties of different parts of the sculpture, lending it a deep sonic richness.
The scene depicted is of a person sneaking away from a wild party out towards a garden. Stand on the marked focal point of the sculpture and make some |a sounds. Listen to hear how the acoustic returns from the statue make the party seem louder than the garden, even though the medium is static.
The effect is subtle, to the point where many critics of the work claim it has fundamentally failed to demonstrate an acoustically-active sculpture. Despite that, this sculpture remains one of the most well-recognized early examples of representational acoustic-visual blending.