Dali Cybernetics Exhibition Review London

This week I went to the brand new Dali Cybernetics exhibition in Shoreditch. The fever up app had advertised it for a while and so naturally it was one that I was really looking forward to kicking off the new year with. I loved the Van Gogh one so I was expecting something along the same lines, if not even better.

What to expect?

The exhibition is located in The Boiler House, Shoreditch (Brick lane) and is a short walk from Shoreditch High Street station. When you walk in and get your tickets seen to, you’re handed a proper old school pair of paper 3D glasses. As you walk through, there’s a few bits of text (with typos!) to read on the wall on the type of work Dali did. The second room has a black and white video playing that really has no context. It feels a bit flat to be honest. The second half of this room is the only unique aspect. There are a number of ipads that let you colour in some child like images of Dali’s work and then they get “digitized” and sent to a giant screen ahead. I must admit, the novelty wore off very quickly. It’s not really relevant to Dali tbh so by this point most people were looking quite perplexed.

You then move into the immersive room which has a few deckchairs and bean bags dotted about and a giant cube in the middle which also has projections on it. The room doesn’t feel immersive because the contrast isn’t high enough. Everything looks too light and faded. Oh yes and remember those 3D glasses, this is where you put them to use, for all of 3 minutes. If you’re old enough to remember them, you’ll know they’re pretty crap, so not only did the 3D aspect feel underwhelming, the giant cube in the middle of the room was showing a different projection from the walls so it just didn’t work for me.

The last room (which is optional) is a VR room. I must admit, I do suffer from motion sickness but I still decided to give it a go. This was the only immersive and cool part of the exhibition. As you walk around the room, Dali’s work is brought to life and moves around you. We were lucky we didn’t have to queue but I’ve seen a few other people spent 30-40 mins queuing!

What did I really think?

I’m going to keep it 100 with you guys – this was a really disappointing exhibition. Dali has an incredible catalogue of work and ideas which they could have showcased in much better, creative ways. He was essentially an eccentric genius and honestly, it did not come acrossin this exhibit. I would have loved to see the jewellery that moves or some real life artwork. Let’s be real, it just felt like a knock off of the Van Gogh exhibition. Considering the price points for the tickets, I promise you it really isn’t worth going.

Would I recommend the Dali Cybernetics exhibition? No, I really wouldn’t.
Would I go again? Not even if I had free tickets.