by Tabitha Boyton
Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s iconic stories, Kate Bailey’s Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser takes over the exhibition space at the Victoria and Albert Museum until the end of the year. Bailey describes the exhibit as a “guidebook of self-discovery and experimentation”, highlighting the evolution from the original tales through adaptations and re-interpretations, as Alice and the world she inhabited became their own mythos.
Res Publica and Art and The City opted for the phenomenal Alice themed High Tea at The Franklin (£55 per head with tickets included), then teetered down the rabbit hole to the Victoria and Albert Museum to immerse ourselves in Icelandic artist Kristjana S. Willians’ interpretation of the titular wonderland - an utterly mind-warping escape from reality and the demands of adulthood.
Carroll’s writings have undeniably influenced both the early surrealists and the (largely neo-)surrealist art displayed throughout. The morphing and contorting colours of the Mad Hatter’s tea party, depicted celebrating their “unbirthdays”, is made all the more enjoyable through its unexpected and multi-faceted nature, at times alternately grotesque and beautiful, at others merely very, very strange.
The thrill of returning to the setting of faint childhood memories pervades the exhibition, and it is relieving that the grinning cheshire cat and the sagacious, hookah smoking caterpillar from the Disney film remain immensely evocative, despite the pressure inherent in living up to Carroll’s legendary descriptions. His perversion of golf, with its flamingo clubs and hedgehog balls seemed even more cruel when presented in three dimensions in front of us.
The exhibition could have been more profound if the curators had delved into the darker aspects associated with Carroll’s life, literature and photographs, including nudity and voyeurism. These do, of course, stand in striking juxtaposition to the magical and mysterious, but above all innocent world he created in his children’s tale.
An engaging experience easily recommended to those who wish to take a step back either in time or from reality, and to delve in some detail into a wonderfully peculiar world.
A hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking exhibition.... a wonderful tumble down the rabbit hole. The Guardian
Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser, V&A review
An unapologetic celebration of brain-expanding curiosity.
Evening Standard
This immersive blockbuster exhibition is a visual joy.
The Independent
An enormous, immersive exhibition.
The Times
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