"Mythical Creatures" at Pacific Asia Museum
Tianmei (Amy) Wang (design) and Johannes Lu (fabrication), PHOENIX (BONGHWANG), 2025 USC Pacific Asia Museum's "Mythical Creatures" is like no other exhibition the 55-year-old institution has done. Drawing loosely on the tropes of commercial pop-up museums, it's a series of immersive, tech-forward, artist-designed environments. It's an interesting mix of 24 contemporary artists, and their efforts make the most of a university museum budget and a 1925 building that isn't exactly suited to this sort of thing. The show also incorporates a bestiary of about a hundred works from the permanent collection. Despite the title, the theme is immigration as much as fabulous beasts. The creatures represent traditional wisdom useful to those encountering new lands and cultures. Who is "Mythical Creatures" for? It's certainly family-friendly, and for the very young, it might be a perfect introduction to the museum experience. A family group can walk through th...
