ADVOCATE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
JEFF KOONS
CITY/STATE
Oak Lawn, IL
LOCATION IN HOSPITAL
CT Scan Suite
INSTALL DATE
2010
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ABOUT THE INSTALLATION
In 2010, Jeff Koons was commissioned to customize the CT machine and the surrounding scanner suite in the Radiology Department of Advocate Children’s Hospital. The goal of the project was to transform what can be a terrifying experience for a pediatric patient into a fun visual adventure. Koons achieved this by enlarging his iconic pop imagery and installing wall-height visions of balloon dogs, monkeys, and hearts throughout the space and atop the machine. His amusing wall mural featuring the popular children’s game Pin the Tail on the Donkey completed the transformation of the suite
This total environment marked the first time RxART realized a fully immersive installation in a pediatric hospital and customized medical equipment with art. The project was made possible through the generous support of Kiehl’s Since 1851 and Jeff Koons.
ABOUT THE HOSPITAL
Advocate Children’s Hospital, as part of Advocate Health, is aligned with a new health system aimed at advancing population health, promoting career development, accelerating medical innovations to patients, addressing the root causes of health disparities, and striving for carbon neutrality by 2030. It serves as a significant referral center for infants and children, operating across two main campuses in Oak Lawn and Park Ridge. Combining top-tier medical talent with compassionate care, Advocate Children’s Hospital stands as a leading pediatric provider in the Midwest.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jeff Koons (b. 1955, York, PA) studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. He is well known for his blending of pop, conceptual, and appropriation art as well as his large-scale reproductions of banal objects. Koons often uses images and objects from popular culture, framing questions about taste, pleasure, consumerism, and industrial fabrication. Koons lives and works in New York City.
Major exhibitions have appeared at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv; Ashmoleon Museum, Oxford; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; among others. Koons has participated in the Bienal de São Paulo, Venice Biennale, Sydney Biennale, and the Whitney Biennial. Koons is represented by Pace and Gagosian Gallery.
