‘Mousachusetts’ Springs Up Overnight With Tiny Shops & Buildings For Gentlemice
Image by AnonyMouse and featured with permission
A little town with the smallest shops and amenities has sprung up along the sidewalks of Boston overnight: Mousachusetts.
Its architects are AnonyMouse, a traveling Swedish art collective that’s been, uh, mousing around with miniature dioramas of buildings and retail displays since 2016. This time, the group has set up ankle-length shop in the US; specifically, Boston.
Make no mistake of them being your regularly hole-in-the-wall joints—these establishments are catered to rodents of culture who would in no doubt have their tails tucked in as they sip on a spot of cheese mousse.
You will need to be this tall to enter the 10 mouse-sized installations, spread across five locations, which include the ‘Massachusetts Mouseum of Fine Art’, which has its own prized collection of paintings; ‘The Mouzette’ magazine store; the ‘Whiskers & Tail’ alteration shop; and a used-books shop called ‘Anatoles’.
In the event of an emergency, there’s also the ‘Mousachusetts Fire Brigade’ on standby, though it’s highly unlikely that its frontliners have been trained to rescue cats stuck in trees.
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Image by AnonyMouse and featured with permission
A member of the collective, which has described itself as a “loosely connected network of mice and men,” tells the Boston Globe that AnonyMouse brought its miniature architecture to across the pond upon invitation by Chestnut Hill-based developer WS Development.
Mousachussetts’ nooks and crannies appear very much alive, with battery-powered lights powered up during business hours.
A representative says that, when working on these builds, AnonyMouse’s creators get in touch with their childhood selves, imagining a world where humans and animals live in the same space.
In this alternate reality, animals collect materials and items humans have tossed away, and repurpose them to support their own lifestyles.
It’s also about spreading some magic into the mundanity of humans’ lives while reminding them to stop and smell the cheeses.
View this post on Instagram
Image by AnonyMouse and featured with permission
View this post on Instagram
Image by AnonyMouse and featured with permission
[via Boston Magazine and The Boston Globe, images by AnonyMouse and featured with permission]
