NEW YORK, NY May 14, 2009 —Ernesto Neto wants you to stroke, sniff and crawl inside the massive sculpture he's built inside the Park Avenue Armory on Park and 66th Street. The Brazilian artist draped hundreds of yards of soft, stretchy lycra around the historic Drill Hall. The twisting canopy hangs from 80 foot high ceilings. Inside, he's hung sacks filled with fragrant spices -- cumin, ginger, and cloves. Neto hopes visitors will touch -- and be touched -- by the project.

NETO: Don't you think it has some arms that looks like it's hugging you? Touch is a natural thing for a sculptor. It's not about sex. It's about comfortness (sic). It's about love.

The show is curated by Tom Eccles. He says large, vacant, interior spaces are hard to find in New York. And the Drill Hall has advantages over the outdoors:

ECCLES: One of the great things is this old battered floor here, I love that it's old and battered, is you can do things on it. You know it's easier to do things here than on a blade of grass in Central Park.

The project is the first full commission by the Park Avenue Armory. It's open until June 14. Watch the video tour of the sculpture.