Dali Duchamp
OMMX were approached by the Royal Academy of Arts to design Dali Duchamp. The exhibition brings into dialogue two of the twentieth century’s most enduring artists: Marcel Duchamp, the father of conceptual art, and Salvador Dali, the virtuoso painter of fabulous visions.
The design impregnates everyday exhibition furniture with surrealist works. It forms a distinct backdrop that quietly complements the iconic pieces, and yet unapologetically distorts the peripheral experience of the show. The monochrome colour palette was derived from Dali and Duchamp’s shared love for chess, which formed an undercurrent to their friendship and curatorial narrative.
The structure in Room 1 presents an unassuming face to the exhibition. However, its reveals bend reality and mirror Dali and Duchamp’s rejection of convention and first forays into surrealism. The structure in Room 2 hosts a dramatic and bold presentation of some of their most famous work suspended above one another. This can be glimpsed from, and is reflected into, the previous room to highlight the sections’ interrelation. The structure in Room 3 is drawn from the Large Glass and plays delirious recordings of Duchamp’s Anémic Cinéma and Hitchcock’s Spellbound. The final structure is a recreation of Duchamp’s Coal Sacks and was officially sanctioned by the l’Association Marcel Duchamp.
