Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the surrealist of them all
The world has been altered. There are no longer any ordinary things.
These words will be printed at the entrance to the Strangely Familiar gallery, the last section of Te Papa’s surrealist art exhibition to open next month.
Visitors will leave the exhibition through an immersive installation inspired by Rene Magritte’s 1937
A lot of us are looking very differently at things, appreciating things differently. Digital producer Prue Donald
Not To Be Reproduced ,a provocative work featuring a man staring into a mirror that reflects the back of his head.
It took about half a dozen people six months to reproduce the work, allowing visitors a rare opportunity to climb inside the frame and be the artwork themselves.
The idea for Magritte’s mirror came from the museum’s digital producer, Prue Donald, who also worked on the larger-than-life Gallipoli exhibition at the museum.
Donald said the title of the work itself was almost a challenge.
They knew they needed to draw the viewer into the painting, but were challenged by the logistics of getting that perfect shot.
Software engineer Tom Moynihan was one of the key brains in bringing Donald’s concept to life.
“Ninety-five per cent of the work was the 5 per cent we just couldn’t quite get right,” he said.
“Little things like reflections bouncing off your shoulder, where the focus should be, where do you exactly have to stand to get the perfect moment.”
“Little things like that we did spend weeks thinking about.”
Emerging after the traumas of World War I, surrealist artists sought to make sense of the frightening reality they had lived through. Donald said there were obvious comparisons to today’s post-Covid world.
“Surrealism arose . . . in reaction to everything that was happening as a way of understanding and interpreting and changing perceptions of the accepted.
“All those things are very pertinent right now, a lot of us are looking very differently at things, appreciating things differently.”
While some surrealist art is considered strange or confronting — think Salvador Dali’s dripping clocks — this immersive installation reflects the playfulness of Magritte’s work.
“It is provocative but there’s a charmingness about it, and that sense of fun and lightness of being,” Donald said.
She hoped the hundreds who visited the exhibition daily would leave feeling slightly “whimsical”, captivated by Magritte’s mirror.
“You have to exit the exhibition and go into the real world with things slightly altered.
“There are no ordinary things.”
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Surrealist Art: Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will run at Te Papa Tongarewa from June 12 to October 31. Adult tickets are $23 and the museum offers a new youth price of $18.50 for people under 26. Visitors are encouraged to book ahead on the Te Papa website.