Ever wondered what it would be like to escape from a kaleidoscope? Come find out this September when House of Mirrors, a labyrinthine walk-through installation of reflective havoc, pops up.
Wiki tells me that the grand tradition of a hall of mirrors comes all the way from Kimye’s wedding reception venue and decadent seat of French royalty: the Palace of Versailles. Inspired by a visit there, Peter Stuyvesant founded a house of mirrors in the Netherlands in 1651 where (I’m assuming) the gag was the ability to come and see what you looked like in crisp HD. When that tech hit the mainstream suddenly everyone had a mirror in the bathroom and/or hallway and the hall of mirrors business was in trouble. Needing to revamp their business strategy, hall owners seized on the deceptive nature of mirrors and constructed elaborate mazes for patrons to find their way out of – just like that a villainous trope was born.
With this installation, expect no gimmicks, special effects, or creepy slowed-down nursery rhymes. This is a real purist’s puzzle featuring only mirrors nefariously arranged into a nexus of chambers, doorways and dead ends. Within this prismatic maze you can let your imagination run hog wild re-enacting your favourite scene from The Man With The Golden Gun, or maybe you just want to luxuriate in myriad refractions of your own face—the possibilities are endless! Much like the compounding tunnel of reflections that will baffle the holy lord out of you!
The installation will be set up from 8-29 September as part of this year's incredible Brisbane Festival lineup and is open to all. Check out Brisbane Festival's website for opening times and online booking details.
The details
What: House of Mirrors
Where: Treasury Brisbane Arcadia, Cultural Forecourt, South Bank
When: 8-29 September 2018
Tickets: From $10, available here.
Image credit: Brisbane Festival