When the people of Malmö woke up on a December day in 2016, something was a little different. In a basement window, a miniature house was sitting, which the then anonymous artists Elin Westerholm and Lupus Nensén had put out during the night. A French nut shop and an Italian restaurant, which would eventually get attention all over the world. The rumor spread from Sweden to countries like Ukraine, India, and Canada.
After the duo revealed that they were behind Anonymouse in the spring, it is the Museum of Sketches in Lund that has been given the chance to exhibit their works this summer. Since they started, they have created forty environments, of which six are included in the exhibition.
We wanted to document it. There have never been so many mouse houses in one and the same place, says Lupus Nensén.
He stands in front of a large display case containing details from Anonymouse's history. There is a map of where the environments have been or are in the world. A gas station in Borås, a radio studio at a street art exhibition in Quebec, and a castle on the Isle of Man off the Irish coast. The latter is made of, among other things, cardboard from a cornflakes package and gravel from a workplace in Malmö.
The castle is my favorite, says Elin Westerholm and points to the picture of the detailed building.
In the exhibition, there are houses that were put out in Lund and in Malmö. The artists never revealed where the works were located, which is a theme that continues even at the museum. Visitors will get a map and have to take matters into their own hands - and search for the six houses.
Children who come here will also get to build their own small houses in cardboard, says Emil Nilsson, curator at the Museum of Sketches.
Anonymouse created the works primarily for children, whom they hoped would pass by on their way to daycare and become happy with the magical mouse houses. However, they have attracted people of all ages.
There have been 70-year-olds who have been helped down on their knees to look, but also latte dads who have tried to drag the children down to check in, says Lupus Nensén and laughs warmly.
The exhibition is on during the summer, but it will not be the last.
Everything suggests that there will be a larger collection exhibition at home (Malmö), but it may take a year, says Elin Westerholm, who cannot reveal where it will be held. Yet.
Lina Conrad/TT
Facts: The exhibition with Anonymouse
TT
The exhibition takes place between June 27 and August 25 at the Museum of Sketches in Lund. On June 27, there is a vernissage between 11 am and 5 pm, with the opening at 3 pm.
In the museum, there are six small houses that visitors can search for with the help of a map.
In addition to the exhibition, children get the chance to make their own small miniature houses in cardboard and color pictures of Anonymouse's mouse houses.
