ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
Reporter Alex Schmidt took the plunge.
ALEX SCHMIDT: The pool is tucked into a dark, back corner of the museum. It's the size of a mini-lap pool and three feet deep, and it's ringed with small blue lights. There's a creepy soundtrack playing and cameras project big images on either side of the pool, featuring lines of cocaine.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCHMIDT: The piece is called "CC4 Nocagions." It was conceived in 1973 by Brazilian artists Helio Oiticica and Neville D'Almeida. MOCA curator Alma Ruiz says the piece was about freedom during an oppressive Brazilian regime - freedom to experience art differently, even to do drugs. Today, though, she says it has another meaning.
BLOCK: We sometimes get so removed by living virtual lives. And I think it is more relevant today to think about the physicality of the exhibition, the fact that you have to experience the work not just with the eyes but with your ears, with your body, with your skin.
SCHMIDT: Yes, visitors are invited to swim in the pool. The museum even sells $16 disposable bathing suits in case you come unprepared. Keenan Blau had brought his own. He was just getting out of the pool when I arrived.
BLOCK: The colors, like, reflect interesting images onto, like, the surface. So it really, like, intensifies, like, the pool. It's pretty refreshing. I like it.
SCHMIDT: Jonathan Lewis got in soon after me. He thought the awkwardness was the point.
BLOCK: It's weird, the moment you realize you're part of the exhibit. I mean, I was swimming probably for about five minutes, and suddenly I realized that all these people are standing around staring at me in the exhibit. So that's what makes it so incredibly immersive, to actually participate in this exhibit. It's awesome.
SCHMIDT: For NPR News, I'm Alex Schmidt.