If you’re looking for somewhere a little different in which to spend New Year in Second Life, then you might try visiting Wonderland, a pop-up art installation by Roxksie Logan (with the support of Sadiya Snow) which will be available briefly from December 31st, 2024 through until January 3rd, 2025 as a pop-up art installation. It offers an interesting fusion of two great literature classics, Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both of which are brought together through the use of motifs, objects and both direct and indirect references in an immersive, semi-interactive environment offering a richness of colour, content and whimsy.
Fusing these two books is an interesting idea; there are both obvious similarities between the two – they are both viewed as children’s novels, for example; there is a degree of magic / mystery and some degree of nonsense involved in both (perhaps more so in Alice than Charlie), both have dark edges to them. some of these differences are far less obvious (such as eating / devouring), and both have a degree of satire and a touch of subtle allegory.
Most of all, however, the two books are filled with imagery which is very much locked in the public consciousness, not only because of their popularity as books, but because of their many adaptations (a part of me wonders how many of us are perhaps familiar with either / both on their basis of their many and various film and television adaptions rather than as a result of reading the books themselves).
It is these latter aspects primarily evident within Rocksie’s Wonderland, wherein many of the familiar motifs from Alice in Wonderland (and touches from Alice’s other adventures – such as the presence of unicorn heads guarding the entrance to the main installation) are mixed with reimagining’s of Wonka’s magical and mysterious chocolate factory.
Before getting to that however, do note that the Landing Point sits aloft the installation, and will request you join the local Experience – which you should do prior to jumping down the rabbit hole!
Within the main element of the installation, the mixes of motifs and ideas are everywhere: sweets and sweet snacks abound ( some of them very … bouncy … shall we say?); pumps deliver chocolate, giant candies form Christmas Trees; cats grin as they line up to guard the walk into a garden dominated by a familiar top hat as human-faced flowers look on; open-topped cakes offer a carousel ride (sit and touch the central handle of the plate on which they sit); card houses tower into the sky and more.
Elsewhere, meringues stand-in for snowy hills, gumball vendors and slushy-like drinks dispensers await the opportunity to dispense, and of course there is the tea party, chess boards, and more, all presenting a visual feast through which visitors can wander. There are also more subtle references within the build as well – at least for those who might want to seek them.
For example, just as mathematics and logic play a role within Lewis Carroll’s work (under his real name, he was a mathematician at Oxford’s Christ Church and some have seen Alice as a reaction against aspects of 19th Century mathematics), so too are geometric patterns used here here as representations of logic and mathematics: neat rows of rectangles set out to form a square; arrays of sweets, the grid pattern making up the rectangular dance floor together with it circular centrepiece homage to Alice herself.
Yet more might be written concerning this engaging installation, but really the best way to appreciate it is to enjoy it first-hand – and as noted, you can do so through until January 3rd, 2025.
SLurl Details
- Wonderland (Cake Valley, rated Adult)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 