Join MAD Chief Curator Elissa Auther and Laura Mott, Chief Curator of Michigan’s Cranbrook Art Museum, for a conversation with Simon and Nikolai Haas in celebration of the artists’mid-career survey, Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley.
Spanning more than 15 years of collaborative practice, Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley offers a richly immersive journey through the Haas Brothers’ genre-blurring work across art, design, craft, and technology. Founded in Los Angeles in 2010, the Haas Brothers studio is celebrated for its surreal hybrid creatures, imaginative environments, and exuberant material experimentation. Together, the artists and curators will discuss the Haas Brothers’ creative process, collaborating as twins, and their innovative approach to making what they describe as “problem-solving fantasies.”
Following the talk, the Haas Brothers’ will sign copies of the exhibition catalog purchased from The Store at MAD. We recommend purchasing books before the talk begins.
About the speakers
Elissa Auther, Ph.D, is MAD’s Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator.
Twin brothers Nikolai and Simon Haas work collaboratively across sculpture, ceramics, furniture, installation, and digital media. Their practice explores themes of transformation, hybridity, and the emotional resonance of objects, often balancing humor with darker psychological undertones. The Haas Brothers have presented their work throughout the United States and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX; the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, NY; the Bass Museum of Art in Miami, FL; and the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art in Savannah, GA, and have been featured in numerous group exhibitions. In 2019, the brothers received the YoungArts Foundation Arison Award. Their work is held in the permanent collections of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art in Providence, RI; the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, NY; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY.
Laura Mott is the chief curator of Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and curator of Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley.
Haas Brothers: Uncanny Vallery is organized by Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and curated by Laura Mott, Chief Curator, with support by Katy Kim, Curatorial Fellow.
Haas Brothers: Uncanny Vallery is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Additional support has been generously provided by Sarah Arison and Suzi Cordish.
$35 general
$15 members
Tickets to this talk include admission to the Museum.
4–5 pm Artists Talk
5–5:30 pm Book Signing
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Haas Brothers: Uncanny Vallery is organized by Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and curated by Laura Mott, Chief Curator, with support by Katy Kim, Curatorial Fellow.
Haas Brothers: Uncanny Vallery is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Additional support has been generously provided by Sarah Arison and Suzi Cordish.
