Surreal House at The Barbican Art Gallery

“For Our House is our corner of the world. As has often been said, it is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word.”
Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, 1958

The Barbican Gallery’s latest exhibition ‘Surreal House’ is a fascinating psychosocial labyrinth of barely lit chambers each exploring the surrealist concept of the home in varying mediums and disciplines. The exhibition combines a hotch-potch of memorabilia, animated furniture, cinematic vistas, convulsive forms and phantom guest, making for a somewhat disorientating and absorbing journey.

The Indefinable artist (or should that be designer?)

Ron Arad’s multi-disciplinary work has long been described to defy categorization, covering an array of genres including art, design, sculpture and architecture. In his current exhibition at the Barbican Centre, Arad’s work is presented in such a way that it responds to each of the categories. The opening room encourages visitors to play, touch and interact with the work in such a way that reminds viewers that each piece is a functioning object, designed for every day life.

MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY

On Thursday 6 May the Barbican Centre hosted an evening of fantasy and imagination in the form of a whimsical Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. The Barbican’s Garden Room was transformed into a dream like wonderland adorned with floating edible treats and fantastical fairy lights while the fancy costumes worn by guests added to the atmosphere of wonderment.

Zebra Finches Rock the Joint

Image: from here to ear (detail), 2007. Photograph : Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. © Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. Courtesy Galerie Xippas

The latest exhibition at the Barbican art space, The Curve, comprises of electric guitars and percussion symbols furnishing a man-made desert of sand and shrubs. Sounding perfectly feasible so far? Fairly ordinary in fact in the context of the off the wall pieces we have come to expect of modern art today. The fact that this installation is also an aviary, home to a flock of tiny zebra finches flying freely amongst spectators is where things start to get interesting.