Book Launch & Conversation: Alex Da Corte’s Mouse Museum

Join Ulises for the launch of Alex Da Corte’s newest publication Mouse Museum. The evening will begin with a conversation between Da Corte and Paulina Pobocha, Chair and Curator of The Art Institute of Chicago, with a reception to follow.

Designed as a “mutant facsimile” of the 1979 Rijksmuseum/Museum Ludwig catalog for Claes Oldenburg’s Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing, Mouse Museum is a codex for the eponymous installation by Alex Da Corte (born 1980). Oldenburg’s original installation, created between 1965 and the late 1970s, is a Mickey Mouse–shaped room filled with ephemera the artist collected over the years. Da Corte, a fervent admirer of Oldenburg’s, updates his original concept for the 21st century, using his own collection of accumulated objects including glass fruit, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys and fake flowers. The room itself is shaped like one of Mickey Mouse’s ears: in this case, the left ear, referencing Van Gogh. Documentation, inspirations and reflections presented in the artist’s voice form an unprecedented picture of both an artwork and a holistic contemporary practice. Each object in Mouse Museum (Van Gogh Ear) is photographed for a total of over 300 color images.

Conversation begins at 6:30pm.

Host or Publisher Ray Philly