3 months have passed since we parsed our hopes and regrets on new year's eve, now is a good time to realign our perspectives;

let's take a cue from april's notably changeable weather:

what to do with all this freedom after 2 years of pandemic? was the world always like that? like a mad, colorful, upside down wonderland?

LEWIS CAROLL

photography of lewis carroll © oscar gustave rejlander, 1863

in the summer of 1862 an eccentric oxford mathematician, who would later call himself lewis caroll, invented a colourful, mad wonderland to entertain his friends 3 daughters with whom he shared a rowing boat. 

among them the 10-year-old alice liddell, who asked carroll to write the story down. 2 years later, she saw the manuscript of 'alice's adventures under ground'.

(speculation about the close relationship between the narrator and his young muse has never quite subsided.)

the final 1985 version of 'alice's adventures in wonderland' is about twice the length - thanks to opium, some people say - and has been translated into 174 languages as one of the worlds most famous “childrens” books. no less important for grownups, as the books also contain numerous intellectual and political allusions. 

RE-CREATIONS OF WONDERLAND

there have been countless attempts to realise wonderland in the real world and make it tangible.

a well-known and very pink interpretation with a huge teapot, giant-sized cherries, but also tiny chair miniatures was the 'alice in wonderland' installation by the architect india mahdavi at the vitra design museum. already in 2014 she took the pink theme to the extreme at sketch restaurant in london; one of the most featured restaurants on instagram.

in 2018 visitors of the 'svizzera 240: house tour' by eduardo souto de moura and switzerland - winer of the golden lion at the venice biennale - found themselves as dwarves and giants like alice.

and in 2019 the artist lei saito created a wonderland out of food at the centre pompidou. she said: 'each menu germinates from a key word, which i develop into a tale i read as a child, or a world in my imagination.'

what comes next, now that we have stepped into the metaverse?

photograpy 'alice in wonderland' installation by india mahdavi © vitra design museum
photography of lei saito's installation, centre pompidou © thomas chéné
photography of the ‘svizzera 240: house tour’ © flavio coddou

PLAYLIST

a bit obscure, a bit too much, a bit too colourful. 
enjoy our sound mix.