#12 - WNDR Museum - 7/19/24

Adventurers: Ron, Sharon

I’m amazed that this week completes the 12th Adventure Thursday. It has been so much fun exploring new places in Chicago and doing it with friends! I keep a list of ideas to visit in the future, and I believe I have about 50 things listed. I know I could double that list with a couple hours of research, so there are many more Adventure Thursdays in the future.

Adventurer Cathy gave me the idea of adding volunteer opportunities as future outings. I love that idea and will be adding volunteer adventures in the future. If you have suggestions for where we could volunteer, send me a text or email. So far, I have Bernie’s Book Bank and the Chicago Furniture Bank as possibilities.

Last week Ron and I experienced the WNDR Museum located in the West Loop. We took Metra into the city, and then it was an easy 20-minute walk to the museum. WNDR is an interactive art museum whose exhibits change (not sure how often the exhibits change). The museum was created in empty commercial space so don’t envision a large, marble structure like so many of Chicago’s great museums. Even before going into the museum, I enjoyed the outside signage.

(1) Liked the banners above the street sign; (2) Also apprecited the white and black phrases on the front of the museum; notice that above the messages are word searches; (3) Hopefully you can read the dedication placque :-)

I’ve never taken restroom related photos before, but I think you’ll like these … especially the 2nd photo.

(1) Graffiti-painted hallway to the bathroom; (2) sign in the gender-neutral bathroom ... love it.

Pics from various exhibits:

The WNDR museum was fun, and we got through everything in about an hour. There was one exhibit, or should I say artist, that really touched me. The Japanese artist’s name is Yoyoi Kusama. Yoyoi is the first billionaire, female artist. She is known for contemporary artwork which includes polka dots. The polka dots stem from her mental illness-derived hallucination where she saw polka dots everywhere including her skin. Yoyoi had a very traumatic youth and has suffered from mental health issues most, if not her entire life. Since the 1970s she has lived in a mental health facility, leaving on a daily basis to work on her art. Her friends included Georgia O’Keeffe and Andy Warhol even though she says Warhol took some of her artistic ideas.

Always enjoy the Adventure,

Sharon