A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum

Opens September 26

The second iteration in a series of contemporary interventions at the Driehaus Museum presents the work of two Chicago-based artists. By situating the architecture of the Nickerson Mansion as the primary site of investigation, Young and Horibuchi deftly employ personal and site-specific frameworks to approach the history of the 1883 building. The installations presented take on a decidedly quiet tone, allowing the objects to speak calmly in order for the Nickerson Mansion to take center stage.



Presented in the east galleries are the works of Nate Young. Themes of familial and collective history play a key role in the work of Young, whose skillful woodwork recalls the craftsmanship used to build the Nickerson Mansion. Employing bone holograms encased within his uncanny doubling of existing cabinets and drawers in the mansion, Young calls attention to histories that have been buried by bringing them to the surface.



This interest in history is also present within the installations of Mika Horibuchi, whose works can be found in the west galleries. Horibuchi’s installations make use of trompe-l’oeil - a visual technique by which realistic imagery is used to trick the eye, such that the depicted object appears to be three-dimensional - to pose questions regarding authorship, representation, and the construction of historical archives. Her gestures invite the viewer to revisit prior constructions of mainstream historical narratives by pointing out what gets lost or added in our standard use of museological conventions.