A Tale of Today: Nate Young & Mika Horibuchi

• Read more about the exhibition from the fall issue of CGN

• Hear from artists Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi as they describe their work and how they considered the history and architecture of the Driehaus Museum's Nickerson Mansion for their contributions to A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi.

The second exhibition in the Driehaus Museum's new contemporary art initiative focuses on two Chicago-based artists, Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi, whose works will engage our expectations of the Nickerson Mansion by responding to the design and history of the 1883 building.

The newly commissioned artistic additions by both artists consider the interiors and architecture of the building, questioning mainstream historical narratives and inviting the opportunity to reflect on the history of a place from a diversity of perspectives.

Nate Young combines sculptural installation and his signature woodwork to recall the craftsmanship lauded during the Gilded Age while allowing his work to seamlessly blend into the existing furnishings of the mansion. Young's work is a continuation of his exploration of his great-grandfather's journey from the rural South to the urban North during the Great Migration.

Mika Horibuchi, similarly interested in playing optical tricks, will use trompe-l’œil as a conceptual framework to pose questions about representation and museology. One of Horibuchi's installations will revisit the Nickerson's notable collection of East Asian antiquities, which were donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in February 1900. 

A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi is organized by the Richard H. Driehaus Museum.