Projections of the Surreal is a site-specific conceptual light, sound and color projection intervention created in 2012 by Anne Katrine Senstad for The Edward James Gardens, in Xilitla, Mexico, commissioned by architect Mathew Holmes for Fundación Pedro y Elena Hernández A.C. As part of the project, Senstad also created a narrative-experimental short film with the same title wiith a mesmerizing soundtrack by acclaimed composer JG Thirlwell, that examines the multilayered histories and psychological impacts on land and indigenous peoples of pre – and post-colonial Mexico, inspired by Nobel Laureate of Literature, Octavio Paz’s novel, The Labyrinth of Solitude (1945) and Sergei Eisenstein’s film ¡Que viva México!(1930- unfinished), an episodic portrayal of Mexican culture and politics from pre-Conquest civilization to the Mexican Revolution.
Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation
André Breton, Surrealist Manifesto, 1924
Encyclopedia: Surrealism. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.
Projections of the Surreal, 2012 – Clip from chapter 3: The Surreal Garden. Sound by acclaimed composer JG Thirlwell.
Projections of the Surreal, 2012. 14.24 min. With Paco Gallego Amigo. Produced by Anne Katrine Senstad , Mathew Holmes and Sandra Cerisola. Co-produced by Pedro Cerisola, Gem & Bolt, Las Pozas, Xilitla, Mexico, Edward James Foundation, Fundación Pedro y Elena Hernández A.C. With Support from Norske Billedkunstnere / NBK , and Kunst og Ny Teknologi, Arts Council Norway
The Edward James Sculpture Garden, “Las Pozas” represents an art work in itself as an environment as well as vehicle for the central protagonist in Projections of the Surreal – it doubles as a transformation of a monument by the artists hand, and as a participant in the film. The living land and remnants of Edward James’ vision leaves a ruinous madness of his 19th century western civilization to the jungle and to the caretakers of the architectural organization. Madrid based actor Paco Gallego Amigo, (founder of The 4 Brothers Michael Chèjov Acting Studio in Mexico City, and Creative Director at Teatro San Millan, also in Mexico City), provides an embodiment of the narration through gestalt performance directed by Senstad, a charged presence where the actor channels, or embodies, history itself and their psychological narratives.
Projections of the Surreal is on one level concerned with the surreal in essential form, not through traditional surrealist imagery in popular cultural history. The video is divided up into “imaginary” chapters that reflect an exploration of the surreal in its purity within the framework of literary works, art, societal structures and economies, and transformative processes. The platform for surrealism in the short film, is that it has a unique existence in Latin America as it is part of the very fabric of society, culture, history and nature – as a form of culural world view intact.
The film is a visual narration that examines the internal and external properties, experiences and ideas of surrealism in the context of the Mexican spirit we saw, probably up until the 2012 junction, here through Senstad’s site specific video projections and land-art installations, as well as through nature and society, contemporary and historic architectural structures, poetic commentary to social-political symptoms, and “the actor” as an ideal. A vehicle for expression of the subconscious and subliminal.
Inspired by Mexican author Octovio Paz’s novel The Labyrinth of Solitude which is an account of the complex history and soul of Mexico and it’s people that relates to much of post colonial countries in South and Central America, the idea of the surreal emerges through the post colonial contra pre Colombian history, the dissolution from Europe leaving the Mexican to experience their identity as a cultural, religious and national orphan’s identity, in a constant state of inner and outer solitude and flux. Pre-Columbian history, identity, religious, mathematical and scientific systems, violence and indigenous world views are all present and part of contemporary Mexico which are merged with Catholicism and hierarchical societal economic systems. In the post-pandemic world, these elements can be discussed in new formats relating to Cartel aesthetics and violence within the governmental infrastructure and reformatting of national economies. In the context of the modernized “gentrification” of culture, a constant flux of identity crisis and politics exists here as well. In previous modernized indigenous cultures, and the cultures of the Aztecs and Mayan’s in Mexico, the surreal can be identified in the role of the shaman and medicinal popularized culture, and through the co-existence with death and symbolism. The lines between life, death, the dream and nature did not exist in previous world views. In Projections of the Surreal, the role of artistic practice, gesture, sound, color, nature, and the illusion of Utopia have similar surrealist existences and purposes, as existence with a view from afar.
About The Edward James Sculpture Garden: The land is located near the town of Xilitla, in the Huasteca Potosina region of Mexico. Edward Frank Willis James, was an eccentric British poet, artist and patron of the surrealist movement. James created an architectural fantasy land in the jungles of Mexico, placed somewhere between Shangri-La and a visionary pre-Brutalist city, the untamed, wild and the artificial merges these multiple impossible worlds into a physical, metaphoric universe.
Its history begins in 1947 with James’s unstoppable desire to create his own personal Garden of Eden and Alice in Wonderlandscape. In 1962, after a frost that killed the thousands of orchids that James had planted, he began the feverish construction of a utopian jungle city of bio-surreal cement structures and various experimental buildings. The construction involved some 150 people and lasted until 1984 with the death of James.
Scale: The total area of the Garden is 37 hectares. Of these ,9 hectares make up the sculpture garden, with more than 28 structures and sculptures. In 2007 the Fundación Pedro y Elena Hernández, A.C, acquired Las Pozas with the purpose of preserving the sculptures while simultaneously maintaining the future of the jungle ecosystem and as a conservation park.
Inquiries for image usage permission and licensing can be directed to Artist Rights Society: info@arsny.com
Capitalism in the Public Realm 