In a large, empty underground room in central London, a baby is crawling along a mirrored floor while hundreds of Salvador Dalí’s clock faces melt and dribble beside, above and – so it appears at least – below him. To some this could be disconcerting; the child, however, appears delighted, scooting gleefully towards a mirrored column to plant a slobbery kiss on his own reflection.
Elsewhere in the room, a girl is twirling; in the centre their mothers sit on the floor, chatting quietly while enormous projections of works by GiuseppeArcimboldo, Henri Rousseau and Edvard Munch twist and animate on every surface around them.
This is Frameless, the capital’s newest toddler enchanter – or, as it would prefer, Britain’s biggest immersive art experience, “where art breaks free”. That’s free of frames, but also of physical presence, as this is an art show that doesn’t contain any actual tangible art. The capital has plenty of other options if real paintings are your bag. Frameless, instead, offers 90 minutes of Instagram-friendly, son et lumière experience across 30,000 sq feet of London bunker.
Why this? “A lot of people are quite intimidated by going into a traditional gallery space,” says Rosie O’Connor, the co-curator. “For your average person, there are a lot of white walls, a lot of art historians saying clever things around you. And you’re looking at this painting thinking, what am I supposed to be feeling?”
She hopes to inspire people to go into galleries and see the art itself, but especially post-pandemic, she says, “people want that sense of connection and escapism. With all of us on our phones the whole time, I think we’re no longer able to just stand and look and get the same emotional kind of connection.”
“Accessibility and inclusion” were at the heart of Frameless’s planning, she says.
Many galleries, though, are free – which makes them a lot more accessible than an attraction whose website is selling standard daytime tickets at £90 for a family of four. “Well, there is a world-class team that has put this together, with world-class technology,” says O’Connor, “so I guess that comes at a cost.” (Unlike many similar experiences, this is not a temporary exhibit designed to tour, but says it wants to inhabit its Marble Arch home permanently.) There is an “ambition” to introduce a learning programme which could include low-cost tickets for schools, according to a spokesperson, but no concrete plans yet.
For those who like the idea of stepping into a giant computer screensaver, the effect is undeniably impressive – and some of those visiting on Friday morning considered it well worth the outlay. “Oh my God, I never ever want to leave, this is the best exhibition on the planet.” said Skye Anthonisz, spinning and twirling with her two young children in the interactive “Colour in motion” room. The family is visiting from its home in Zug, Switzerland. After she saw the exhibition featured on Instagram, she says she thought: “I’m not leaving London until I have been there.”
Retirees Stephen and Ros, from Epping, were a little less animated in the “Beyond Reality” room, but apart from lamenting the absence of any chairs, were equally impressed. “It’s like you’re part of the art, like it’s coming towards you,” says Ros of an animated version of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights – carefully sanitised of the sexual or disturbing bits.
“I thought it was quite expensive when I first looked at it, but I suppose everything is,” says Ros. “Just look at London zoo or the theatre,” adds her husband.
That said, Frameless will certainly hope for busier crowds than were in evidence on Friday, when the first two hours of trading saw perhaps 30 visitors in total. The exchange rate had helped them, noted Anthonisz, but “for most people, this is a big amount of money. I’m assuming that ticket prices are going to come down at some point. They will have to or regular families will never be able to afford it.”
With that, she spun off again, following daughter Lila, six. “How can you stand still?”
