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“Atopos” is a song with an accompanying video clip by experimental pop artist Bjork. The artist portrays the state of “surreal” through the use of set design and music instrumentation choices. Eclectic baritone clarinets are composed beside electronic beats influenced by the techno subgenre of “Gabber”. The combination of instruments in conjunction with Bjork’s unique vocal delivery is unfamiliar and whimsical. The music video’s aesthetic influenced by mycelium and vibrant earthy colours  compliments the musical choices and evokes a psychedelic dream-like state.

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“Annihilation” is a science fiction horror film based on author Jeff VanderMeer’s “Southern Reach Trilogy”. In the film five scientists enter a biological anomaly referred to as “Area X”. The mutated landscape is visually influenced by the growth fungus and cancer. This leads to vibrant, sickly flora with mould and arterial characteristics. As the characters enter “Area X” their memories are fragmented and they enter a dream-like state comparable to dementia or psychosis. There is also a sublime quality that occurs from the mixing of beautiful and terrifying aesthetics supported by a complimentary narrative.

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Never Catch Me - Flying Lotus ft. Kendrick Lamar [Music Video]

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Never Catch Me - Flying Lotus ft. Kendrick Lamar [Music Video]

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“Never Catch Me” is a song by electronic and jazz influenced artist Flying Lotus which features the Pulizer Prize winning vocalist Kendrick Lamar. The musical content is influenced by the themes of death and afterlife in context to the conflicting emotions of joy and pain found throughout the process of grief. The accompanying video clip by Hiro Murai portrays a funeral service for two young children. The children arise from their open caskets and joyfully begin to dance, unperceived by those around them at the service.

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Flying Lotus - Never Catch Me ft. Kendrick Lamar

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“Bitches Brew” is an eclectic jazz album by musician and composer Miles Davis. The music is often unpredictable and chaotic because of its freeform composition and longer song duration. While traditional instruments like drums, electronic piano and trumpet are used in its arrangement. The composition often sounds like the melodies and rhythm are clashing or working independently. This can create a disjointed dream-like feeling which feels engaging while difficult to comprehend.

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Teacher Holds Back Class at Lunch - Aunty Donna [Comedy Sketch]

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Teacher Holds Back Class at Lunch - Aunty Donna [Comedy Sketch]

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“Aunty Donna” is a comedy trio renowned for their absurd content which often results in unexpected outcomes. The sketch depicts a physical education teacher in a secondary school classroom attempting to teach unruly students. The content initially appears placed in reality when the students are reprimanded for poor behaviour. However there is a narrative twist using time which feels silly and disjointed like a dream.

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Switch Restaurant Bahrain - Karim Rashid [Interior Design]

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Switch Restaurant Bahrain - Karim Rashid [Interior Design]

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Karim Rashid is a multifaceted industrial designer specialising in architecture and interior products. The “Switch” restaurant in Bahrain employs an affective futuristic design by utilising curvature and neon lighting in a white coloured space. The curved aesthetic featured on the walls, ceiling and floor influence the perception of space resulting in an optical illusion effect. The combination of violet and cool white lighting creates a simultaneously alien and sterile feeling space alluding to a science fiction film set.

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“Rebirth-II” is a visual art installation by artist Taezoo Park created out of abandoned technology. It speaks to the myth of post-humanism by merging analog and digital technology influenced by industrial design. The older styled computer screens appear to be rising above a collection of broken components providing a literal depiction of ascension. While appearing superficial there is a strange emotional state created when displayed in this formation.

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“No Man’s Sky” is a generative space exploration game available on modern consoles. The vast alien fauna and flora are created by a machine learning engine. Each planet has a different aesthetic and biology which varies considerably based on environmental factors like atmosphere and chemical properties. The strange worlds are complemented by the disorientation and loneliness of being lost in space by showing artefacts of prior and current inhabitants. While visually surreal there is also an affective quality created by the character’s isolation juxtaposed by beautiful rich landscapes.

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“Kid A” is a song from Radiohead’s two part concept album “KID A MNESIA”. Initially the albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac” were released independently before the special edition album combined both into a single entity as the band envisioned. The song features a slow and echo rich synthesiser melody combined with heavily effected vocals which are difficult to comprehend. While seeming uncanny there is a dream-like quality from the combination of these two elements due to the unfamiliar space it places the audience in. The harsher nasal-like quality of Thom Yorke’s voice conflicts with the rounded melody which opens up the possibilities for audience imagination.

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“Arrival” is a science fiction film directed by Dennis Villeneuve which portrays a group of scientists attempting to communicate with extraterrestrial visitors. The motif of memory features throughout the film as the linguist grapples with understanding the content of her dreams. The film often displays these dreams fragmented in a non-linear manner which the audience may not understand until revealed through narrative structure. It also uses scale in terms of mass to create an illusory phenomenon where the alien aircraft appears unfamiliar and otherworldly.

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Maker with Sculpture - Adrian Cox [Visual Art]

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Maker with Sculpture - Adrian Cox [Visual Art]

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“Maker with Sculpture” is a visual piece by Adrian Cox using oil on panel as the medium. It portrays a character appearing to be made of an organic material resembling fungus or coral sculpting humanoid figure in clay. It speaks to the myth of a universal creator with Christian influenced religious origin. The non-human form and act of creation evokes a sense of mortality and leads the audience to question the means surrounding their own life and death. The painting’s visual aesthetics combined with this narrative can lead to a strange and somewhat uncanny internal positioning.

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Adrian Cox - “Maker with Sculpture” - oil on panel

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Maker with Sculpture Oil on panel by Adrian Cox. Painting size: 45.7 x 61 cm (18″ x 24”) This painting is framed. Adrian Cox’s available art and biography.

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Machine Hallucinations: Renaissance Dreams - Refik Anadol [Digital Art]

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Machine Hallucinations: Renaissance Dreams - Refik Anadol [Digital Art]

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“Renaissance Dreams” is a digital art piece from Anadol’s “Machine Hallucination” series. This series of works portrays visual data through the perspective of artificial intelligence. In the context of “Renaissance Dreams” the algorithm is designed to resemble paintings from the Renaissance era influenced by popular artists like Michaelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci. The artwork alters the perception of space by appearing three dimensional and leads the audience to question whether they are witnessing an organic entity.

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tremōlloid - Kamil Czapiga Cosmodernism [Visual Art] 

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tremōlloid - Kamil Czapiga Cosmodernism [Visual Art] 

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Kamil Czapiga’s work involves manipulating ferrofluid under a microscope and recording the outcome. In “tremōlloid” the vibrant colour and movement looks as if created by digital animation and evokes a sense of wonder. The shapes created by the ferrofluid reacting with magnets appear unusual while displaying organic characteristics. Its appearance lends to something imaginary or alien even though physically placed in the world of realism.

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Anadol, R (2022) Renaissance Dreams — Palazzo Strozzi [art installation], Refik Anadol website, accessed 2 August 2024. https://refikanadol.com/works/renaissance-dreams-palazzo-strozzi/

Aunty Donna (2019) ‘Teacher Holds Back Class at Lunch’ [video], Aunty Donna, Youtube website, accessed 2 August 2024. https://youtu.be/TilZBKGR2S0?si=Zjgu_q87kmbR6xzw

Bjork (2023) ‘Atopos’ [video], Bjork, Youtube website, accessed 30 July 2024. https://youtu.be/9FD2mUonh5s?si=5wnqoreyZYpi5cpn

Cox, A (2017) Maker with Sculpture [oil on panel], Adrian Cox website, accessed 2 August 2024. https://www.adriancoxart.com/2017.html

Czapiga, K (2019)  tremōlloid [visual art], Instagram website, accessed 3 August 2024. https://www.instagram.com/cosmodernism/reel/C9knSMVuxs4/

Flying Lotus (2015) ‘Never Catch Me ft. Kendrick Lamar’ [video], Flying Lotus, Youtube website, accessed 31 July 2024. https://youtu.be/2lXD0vv-ds8?si=Rj99PCppqKtUSWND

Gardland, A (2018) Annihilation [motion picture], Paramount Pictures, United States.

Hello Games (2016) No Man’s Sky [video game], Hello Games.

Miles Davis (1970) ‘Bitches Brew’ [album], Columbia.

Muggs, J (2020) ‘Gift of the gabber: the return of dance music’s gloriously tasteless subgenre’, The Guardian website, accessed 30 July 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/10/gift-of-the-gabber-the-return-of-dance-musics-gloriously-tasteless-subgenre

Park, T (2023) Rebirth-II [visual art], Instagram website, accessed 2 August 2024. https://www.instagram.com/digitalbeing/reel/C6GNfPkuN9R/

Radiohead (2000) ‘Kid A’ [song], Kid A, Parlophone.

Rashid, K (2018) Switch Restaurant Bahrain [interior design], Karim Rashid website, accessed 2 August 2024. https://www.karimrashid.com/projects/interiors/1177

Villeneuve, D (2016) Arrival [motion picture], Paramount Pictures, United States.

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Surreal can be defined as something strange, difficult to understand or not previously encountered that creates a dream-like state.

From analysis of the pieces referenced there are common themes and aesthetics that tie them to the prompt “Surreal’. The notion of mortality including the ideas of afterlife and creation are found in multiple pieces. They offer a different perspective by depicting objects or organisms' subjective experience of existence. Memory is another theme found in Alex Gardland and Dennis Villeneuve’s films. Specifically the portrayal of disjointed and fragmented memory which evokes a dream-like quality.

Aesthetically there is commonality between the portrayal of mycelium and coral influenced visual structures. Notably curvature and sprawling, clustered growth patterns. There is a technicolour theme related to vibrant hue found in colour and lighting selection. The bright colours are often contrasting negative space or darker hue to appear vivid and enveloping. Space in terms of mass is often used to make objects appear unusual in relation to its surroundings. This manipulation of visual scale can allow objects to feel important or meaningful in relation to their context.