Sunday 21 October 2012

Bedlam, Old Vic Tunnels


Lazarides Gallery and The Old Vic Tunnels have joined artistic forces to create the immersive Bedlam exhibition, based on London’s infamous mental institution Bethlam founded in 1247. Yesterday, I went to visit the haunting exhibition to see what the hype was about.

The exhibition looks broadly at mental health and is coined Bedlam after UK’s oldest mental hospital that was renowned for its brutality and cruelty. The aim of the exhibition was to artistically explore the legendary institution, where members of the public could pay to view the unstable patients rattled in their cages during the 18th century, and all its horrors.

Bedlam invites you to stumble blindly through 29,000 square feet of underground tunnels, coming across psychedelic kaleidoscopic light displays on the ceiling to a giant haunting projection of a child’s dress.

The exhibition had elements of greatness within the unhinged art, yet also juxtaposed with weaker conceptual art. However, the venue is incredibly thematic, and it is free to enter so you should definitely visit should you have the chance.

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