150 South Cottage Hill Ave
2019
Two-months stay at Mies van der Rohe's McCormick House at the Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
The McCormick House's current lack of a kitchen and functioning bathroom required an expansion of the floorplan to its surroundings to create a livable situation
House on its original property, 299 Prospect Ave, Elmhurst, IL, in the 1950s (Source: Hedrich Blessing Archive / Chicago Historical Society)
Relocated house (turned by 90 degrees) at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 South Cottage Hill Ave
Installation view; objects and furniture were provided by the artist except for the loaned MR chair; photograph: Jim Prinz
The roles of objects were fluid, moving between furnishing and art, accommodation and improvisation
Former kitchen area; Untitled (Stainless Steel), 2019, 30 in. x 60 in x 2 in., rare earth magnets, wire, wood dowel
Card from the Exquisite Corpse card set, posted on the Untitled piece
Exquisite Corpse, a 260-piece card set specifically created for the house. It consists of four categories: House, Social Contexts, Ephemerals, and Discourse; the photograph shows the Discourse cards laid-out in a grid
Museum visitor engages with the cards
Card arrangement left behind by visitors
A checklist provided visitors with information on all elements that the artist had installed in the house (since the installation changed over time, the check list was regularily updated)
The McCormick House at night with the Children's Wing illuminated
Robert Hall McCormick III commmissioned Mies van der Rohe in 1952 to build a prototype for affordable prefab housing in Elmhurst, Illinois. More than 40 years later the house was purchased by and incorporated into the Elmhurst Art Museum, first as an office and later as an exhibition space for contemporary art and design exhibitions.
In 150 South Cottage Hill Ave the artist moved into the McCormick House for the duration of the exhibition to temporarily collapse the role of the museum with that of a home and to study how this act would impact the discussion of and relationship between art, architecture, politics and life. The project featured a series of events and salons including presentations by art historians Leili Adibfar, Nicoletta Rousseva, Chris Reeves (PhD candidates / UIC), and designer Norman Teague, as well as a performance by artist Julietta Cheung. Textile works by Kate Park and sound works by Olivia Block were included in the temporary interior of the house.
A small publication was printed for the show's closing weekend: McCormick House Exquisite Corpse.
For further information and materials: