Installation view of “Spirit Systems of Soft Knowing ༊*·˚” at Amos Rex in Finland. (Photo: Niclas Warius / Amos Rex)
Considering its name means “experience” in Japanese, it should perhaps come as no surprise that Keiken has mastered the art of embodied storytelling. Based in Berlin and London, and composed of three members, the artist collective has created works across disciplines that encourage audiences not just to engage, but to transform. Keiken’s Spirit Systems of Soft Knowing ༊*·˚ is no exception.
Originally created in 2024, Spirit Systems is currently featured in the collective’s newest solo exhibition, Sensory Oversoul, at PHI in Montreal. The immersive, curtained-off installation contends with our relationship to animals and nature, urging a more empathetic connection with our surroundings. To foster this, visitors are invited to lie down on seed-pod shaped beds, complete with gray cushions that resemble soft stones. Complementing this organic imagery is the installation’s structure, in which the beds are arranged into a staggered, reef-like formation, echoing the interconnectedness of our ecosystems.
Once enmeshed within the beds, visitors receive a pair of headphones as well as what Keiken describes as a “haptic wearable womb,” whose blue glow radiates against each person’s abdomen. The silicone womb also vibrates delicately as an artificial extension of the body, while the headphones channel sounds that shift between underwater mammals, sandstorms, and space.
Altogether, Spirit Systems offers its guests a meditative moment, one that transcends our literal existence and prompts a more spiritual, metaphysical introspection. In this meticulously curated environment, we are able to encounter multiple levels of consciousness, each detached from language and instead rooted in a primal, sensory experience.
“This tactile, spatial installation draws on the body’s energy currents, as well as non-verbal and energy communication,” Keiken writes of the project. “This embodied technology is a ‘tool of consciousness’ that can be used to create a connection with the unknown and reactivate other conscious communication from the body.”
Aside from Spirit Systems, the Sensory Oversoul exhibition also encompasses Morphogenic Angels: Chapter 1, from 2023. This installation features video game and CGI film components, and is presented in a landscape of black sand and dried flowers. Like Spirit Systems, Morphogenic Angels ponders spirituality and connectivity, this time through an angel who awakens in a speculative, ambiguous future. Visitors take control of the angel, named Yaxu, throughout the project, navigating a strange, speculative world that, similar to Keiken’s other projects, simulates something that exists beyond our physical perception.
“We want to imagine a future that goes beyond our current reality,” Hana Omori of Keiken said in a recent interview with PHI. “We can redefine what society is, what the body is, and what our subjective realities are. We have this freedom to radically reimagine the way we see the world.”
Keiken: Sensory Oversoul is currently on view at PHI through March 8, 2026. To learn more about the artist collective, visit the Keiken website.
Now on view at PHI in Montreal, Keiken’s Spirit Systems of Soft Knowing ༊*·˚ allows visitors to experience a metaphysical connection to nature and animals through silicone wombs and headphones.
Installation view of “Spirit Systems of Soft Knowing ༊*·˚,” included in the ‘Keiken: Sensory Oversoul’ exhibition at PHI in Montreal, 2025. (Courtesy PHI)
Installation view of “Spirit Systems of Soft Knowing ༊*·˚,” included in the ‘Keiken: Sensory Oversoul’ exhibition at PHI in Montreal, 2025. (Courtesy PHI)
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My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by PHI.
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