Museum of Civilization Explores Pleasure as Serious Subject
A new exhibition moves beyond the obvious to examine pleasure's scientific, sociological, and philosophical dimensions.
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Following the success of Ô merde !, an exhibition about feces, the Musée de la civilisation has launched Plaisirs—an ambitious exploration of pleasure that challenges visitors to think beyond the surface.
"It's an important, even serious subject," said Julie Lemieux, the museum's director general. Like its predecessor, Plaisirs tackles a surprising topic by revealing its scientific, sociological, and philosophical depth.
The exhibition is divided into five distinct "universes" with colorful design meant to trigger dopamine release and different sensations throughout the visit. A hopscotch game and a "penetrable" rope installation introduce the theme playfully at the entrance. Glass vitrines shaped like candy candies display artifacts from the museum's collection—ancient objects alongside contemporary pieces representing different sources of pleasure: eating chocolate, dancing, having a drink with friends, reading.
Visitors then enter large pink domes where "sonic rains" emit bird songs, laughter, and other sounds. A section dedicated to sexual pleasure, reserved for ages 18+, occupies a separate area to allow comfortable exploration. Rather than veering into poor taste or pornography, the museum took an artistic approach, using structures evoking vulvas, glans, and testicles alongside museum objects that trace the history of sexuality across epochs.
At the heart of the exhibition, a massive neuron-like structure explains how pleasure works in the brain, with stations detailing the brain's reward circuit in humans and animals, addiction, and related processes.
The final sections shift toward reflection, exploring the distinction between pleasure and happiness. One universe, saturated with colour and light, examines the "performance" often tied to the pursuit of happiness—using Barbie, her friends, her house, and her supposedly "perfect" wardrobe to spark discussion about unrealistic standards.
Marie-Christine Bédard, the exhibition's project manager, said the team's central challenge was condensing vast amounts of research into digestible content for visitors while answering the core question: "What is pleasure actually for?"