The surreal house

Abstract

Through a unique blend of art, photography, film, and architecture, Surreal presents individual dwelling as a place of mystery and wonder. Fusing house and dream, it probes relationship between interior and shell, object and space, and it elaborates the marvelous and compulsive beauty as espoused by Andre Breton. haunted house, cabinet of curiosities, ruined castle, cage, cave, box, labyrinth, bell jar, and womb are among uniquely surreal habitats explored. Shaped by irrational and subversive, flip side of modernist paradigm of functional, rational dwelling, Surreal is ripe for discovery. Mirroring surrealist love of poetic juxtaposition, project brings together works by artists such as Edward Hopper, Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio de Chirico, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Joseph Cornell, and Salvador Dali. A surreal legacy is to be found in interiors of little-known Italian architect and designer Carlo Mollino, in Frederick Kiesler's model for The Endless House (1957-59), in sculptures by Louise Bourgeois and Rebecca Horn, and in installations by Edward Kienholz and Ilya Kabakov. Contemporary architecture is represented by work of Rem Koolhaas and Diller & Scofidio, among others. A manifesto for a poetic reading of house, Surreal reflects on unquestionable importance of dwelling, cradle of our being, in imaginative realm. This richly illustrated account brings together a host of commentators and historians, and accompanies a major exhibition.