Blanton Museum Opens Haas Brothers Exhibition

The Austin museum hosts a new midcareer retrospective featuring unique furniture and sculptures.

Updated on Oct. 21, 2026 in Fine Art

A tactile organic sculpture made of bronze and fur sits on a pedestal inside a bright, minimalist art gallery. — The Blanton Museum of Art in Austin has opened "Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley," a new midcareer retrospective featuring the artists' signature sculptures. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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The Blanton Museum of Art has launched a new midcareer retrospective titled Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley. The exhibition showcases works by Simon and Nikolai Haas, who spent their formative years in Austin.

Why it matters

The exhibit explores the artists' creative evolution and their local roots, highlighting how the creative spirit of 1990s Austin continues to influence their distinctive sculptures.

The centerpiece strawberry tree features 500,000 blue beads, representing a significant scale for the artists over their 15-year career. The exhibition features various sculptures constructed from bronze, glass, and fur.

The players

Simon and Nikolai Haas

They are the artists behind the sculptures and furniture featured in the exhibition who spent their formative years in Austin.

Blanton Museum of Art

This is the cultural institution in Austin hosting the midcareer retrospective exhibition.

Masahiro Mori

He is a robotics professor who published the original 1970 hypothesis on the uncanny valley.

The details

The exhibition highlights the brothers' unique aesthetic through a variety of materials including bronze, glass, and fur. The show's title is a reference to the uncanny valley hypothesis first proposed by Masahiro Mori in 1970.

1970: Masahiro Mori published his hypothesis on the uncanny valley.
October 21, 2026: The exhibition opened to the public.
January 17, 2027: The exhibition closes at the Blanton Museum.

Industry Dynamics

The exhibition aligns with the trend of major museums hosting midcareer retrospectives for contemporary artists who blend furniture design with fine art. By referencing Masahiro Mori's 1970 uncanny valley hypothesis, the artists challenge traditional boundaries between human-like design and utility.

The exhibition is now open to the public at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin. Visitors can view the collection through January 17, 2027, when the show concludes.

The takeaway

This exhibit offers a look at how formative local experiences can shape an internationally recognized artistic career over fifteen years. Attendees can see how diverse materials like fur and glass are utilized to push the limits of traditional sculpture design.