La Hutte Royal is an unusual art installation created by Thorsten Brinkmann, who transformed the orange brick house into a convoluted playground of art, everyday objects, and collectibles. Navigating the exhibit evokes an Alice in Wonderland-esque experience, as there are multiple crawl spaces, narrow hallways, ladders, low ceilings, in-your-face sculptures and disorienting electronics, tiny set-ups, etc.; in general, nothing is ever as it seems. Though not a completely interactive exhibit, there are various rooms and objects that allow for visitor participation, such as a putt-putt room, a typewriter, and a stack of cards.
La Hutte Royal piqued my interested because of it's deceptively ordinary exterior, compared to its convoluted and disorienting interior. Although there are many strange objects and artworks within the installation (spinning ears on records, etc.), the majority of the objects are not uncommon, simply misplaced. For example, the gigantic bell, taken from a long-gone local children's show, intrusively blocks the entrance. In addition multiple walls are made out of doors taken from the original house itself, and the theater is filled with chairs that belong in a hair salon. The art installation forces me to experience everyday life outside of its normal context, and question my reality.
While the art installation itself definitely achieves its goal of creating a puzzling, quirky mish-mash of art and life in an oddball dream world, I felt that the construction of the interior definitely limited its potential audience. One of the first questions asked when entering the exhibit is, "Are you claustrophobic?", a valid concern for many people. In addition, the narrow hallways, crawl spaces, and ladders would make it impossible for injured or disabled visitors to navigate certain rooms, thus disallowing them from participating in the full experience.
La Hutte Royal is undoubtedly inspired by the Naoshima Islands, a series of islands who've transformed into a refreshing blend of museums, art installations, cutting-edge architecture, and nature. Both exhibits aim to create a novel experience which blurs the lines between art and life.
In my own project, I hope to evoke the same dizzying experience, dissolving the lines between art and reality, through the creation of a similarly-inspired playground in the context of virtual reality.
