Idea #32 - That's So Surreal

“Surrealism is based on the belief in the omnipotence of dreams, in the undirected play of thought.” - André Breton, French Writer

Surrealism is often associated with words like “unreal” or “dreamlike”. This has conditioned us to think of it as something far from reality, when really it is about anything that our subconscious mind carries. Ironically, surrealism could quite possibly be one of the realest, rawest things about man.

Today we watched Surrealism The Big Ideas, and learned about the idea of surrealism and how it was, and continues to be incorporated in art. Conceptualised in the day and age of the first World War by French Writer André Breton, Surrealism was initiated in an attempt to influence the local society to express themselves with no restraint at all. This movement rooted from his belief that wars often start as a consequence of the pent up emotions and thoughts people have to keep suppressed within themselves.

We also indulged in a fun activity as a follow up to the video, to prove that everything we term “surreal” stems from our subconscious mind. We drew on pieces of paper- anything and everything that came to our mind first. Of course, what we created was abstract, coming right out of our subconscious, and probably something André Breton would have called “surreal”.

Written By: Arya Kastwar

Curated By: Hetvi Kamdar