Egg House

What, exactly, is the Egg House?

How does one even begin to describe the Egg House? Well according to its website, it's "a place where we can come together and celebrate our dreams & aspirations and see what great things New York City has in store."

A more accurate but less fun description? Egg House is an instagram-friendly pop-up art project made by recent grads of NYC art schools such as Pratt Institute, NYU, and the School of Visual Arts. It's kind of like the Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco (that's right, California friends, I've seen all your insta and snapchat posts!) except... egg themed.

More specifically, Egg House has a charming story about a little egg named Ellis.

When my friend invited me to go with her to see Egg House (she had already gotten two tickets) I was intrigued. I'd heard about it, and had always wanted to go to one of these pop-up art projects that are so en vogue right now, but didn't think I could justify the expense. As I have said in previous entries, I LIVE IN BROOKLYN AND I AM POOR AF.

Egg House seemed as if it had a cute story attached to it from the very first article I read about it, so I did actually want to go (plus it's a lot more quirky than some of these other pop-ups - who gets artistic inspiration from eggs?! I love it!) but didn't think I'd get the chance until my friend offered it to me. Of course I said yes!

A poorly-lit photo of us with Ellis

The story of Egg House is that this is the Lower East Side home of a dreamer named Ellis. Yes, she is named after Ellis Island - which was particularly amusing to me for two reasons. One (as those who have known me for a long time know) it used to be one of the names I wanted to name my future children (I no longer want kids), and two, I WORK AT ELLIS ISLAND.

Like many New Yorkers - myself included - Ellis isn't from here. She's a transplant. An immigrant, from Sunnyside Island. She has moved to New York to pursue her dream to perform and become a part of something greater.

Though Ellis is currently living in a tiny basement apartment and working very hard as a waitress for very little money, she knows that if she can make it here, she can make it anywhere!

It's a cutesy story, only made quirky because Ellis is an egg - apparently chosen because it's such a neutral food item, used in nearly every cuisine on Earth, so nearly every visitor can project their own hopes and dreams onto Ellis and thus relate with her. In a way, it's genius in its simplicity.

When you enter Egg House, there are photo ops everywhere, from Ellis's kitchen/living room, to the ball pit that neither myself nor my friend went into (those things are crawling with germs you guys, New Yorkers are gross sometimes), to Ellis's bedroom, to the cactus garden in her basement.

There are words painted on some of the walls too.

We have puns, such as "The eggventure awaits".

We have fortune cookie advice such as "Live your life sunny side-up".

And we have cutesy sayings, like the one in the kitchen that says "Your friends are like eggs - keep your carton full."

All in all, it is a really cute exhibition. It's whimsical and interactive, a sensory playland for kids and hipsters alike. Is it worth the price of admission? That all depends on your appetite for whimsy. I thought it was adorable and worth seeing once, but it's pretty small and crowded in there, and the story isn't that deep. You won't learn anything from it.

Still, I like Ellis the Egg. I'm rooting for her to achieve her dreams.

After all if she can (and if her young artist creators can), I can too.

-Nym