Animatronic sculpture by Ryan Gander to be presented at both Venice museums of the Pinault Collection

26 February 2024

Starting this spring, the two Venice museums of the Pinault Collection – Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana – will join its Paris location in hosting an animatronic work by Ryan Gander, forming The Trilogy (2018-2020).

Emerging from tiny holes bored into the walls of the Bourse de Commerce and Venice galleries, three individual mice discreetly animate the spaces, philosophising and attracting the attention of visitors, who are invited to lean in to listen more closely to what they have to say. The mice deliver monologues using the voices of the artist's daughters. One, a dark brown mouse, provides a prophet-like speech written by the artist that connects animalistic and humanistic perspectives on time, change and humankind’s potential demise through an obsession with growth; The second, a light brown mouse, provides a philosophical address based on the final scene of The Great Dictator (1940) by Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, rewritten from a post-simulacrum perspective; whilst the third, a white mouse struggles and stutters as it attempts to deliver a speech, not quite knowing how to begin or what exactly to say.

Equipped with a battery, and thus trapped in an endless cycle until exhaustion, they encourage visitors to reflect on our condition with sincerity and humour.

Find further information via Pinault Collection.