Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art – Surreal Adventures
Surreal Adventures
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Following on from the success of the M.C. Escher inspired maze we built in 2015, the National Gallery of Modern Art again commissioned Old School Fabrications to design, build and install an outdoor promotional attraction. The result was a playful surreal environment that took inspiration from the 2016 summer exhibition, Surreal Encounters.
Surreal Adventures is best described as a playground extraordinaire situated on the lawn in front of the Modern One gallery, Edinburgh and is inspired by many of the motifs found in the work of Surrealist artists such as Rene Magritte. At the centre of the enclosed space, is a slide based on Magritte’s iconic painting The Magic Mirror. Surrounding this are a number of sculptural objects, including a distorted dining table and chairs, a mysterious empty fireplace, a concrete Chesterfield sofa, enigmatically framed doorways, a sinking grandfather clock and a puzzling vacant easel.
The intriguing landscape of Surreal Adventures worked well in helping to bring a large family audience to the gallery, adding to the exhibition’s huge success. It is hoped there is potential of Surreal Adventures travelling to other venues.
