A dynamic new art experience has been unveiled in Bendigo to complement the Australian-exclusive exhibition Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits. 1000 Doors – an all-ages art installation in Rosalind Park, invites audiences to unlock their imagination as they wander a labyrinth of rooms.
When we open a door and cross the threshold, we move from one world to another in an instant. What will our hearts find in the unknown spaces beyond? Joy, grief, resentment or contentment may be awaiting us, memories or desires stirred, and buried feelings re-surface. Whatever happens, as we move through this doorway, we risk entering an altered state.
Created by Christian Wagstaff and Keith Courtney, the team behind the wildly popular House of Mirrors – 1000 doors invites us to explore a labyrinthine world that exists in a sort of temporal and spatial embolism beyond our material reality.
Once we cross the threshold at the external entrance, through a door whose ordinary sense of domestic solidity offers a sense of security, our bearings are lost. Will we emerge? Of course we will. But will we emerge with our psyche altered?
1000 Doors was a hit when it premiered at last year’s Melbourne Festival, attracting 20,000 people, and has been brought to Bendigo by the Art Gallery as part of the Bendigo Easter Festival to sit alongside the international exhibition, Tudors to Windsors, which is shaping up to be another blockbuster having already attracted thousands of visitors.
Direct from London’s National Portrait Gallery, the exhibition on display until 14 July 2019, showcases more than 200 portraits of the British royal family from sixteenth century through to today, along with historic fashion pieces and personal items from royals past and present.
“The 1000 Doors installation will bolster the huge array of exhibits, performances and experiences on offer at this year’s Easter Festival,” said Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan. “Bendigo Art Gallery has been a trailblazer – demonstrating how art, culture and creativity can be a driving force for tourism, local jobs and the local economy.”
1000 Doors
Rosalind Park, 30 Gaol Road, Bendigo
Installation continues to 28 April 2019
Entry fees apply
For more information, visit www.bendigoregion.com.au for details.
Image: Christian Wagstaff and Keith Courtney, 1000 Doors, 2018. Image courtesy of the artists – photo by James Morgan