surreal life

On Friday I was amazed back to life by the strange surreal caresses of Jan Svankmajer (czech surreal filmmaker, animator and artist) as resurrected by art collective 85A.

As part of the Glasgow film festival they defrosted a cold slippy slice of 100% proof eastern bloc surrealism in an abandoned warehouse in Maryhill, complete with artificial limbs, secret agents watching your every move and passing you collage notes, proud dark crows strutting their stuff, Czech food (borsh, gulash, sausages), mad mechanisms (self-fiddling violins, clapping cases, egg-laying punch and judy), street urchins drawing chalk monsters on the floor and secret film screenings in such unlikely locations as a head sized box, inside a gingerbread house, underneath a meat platter, inside a boiler and over a balcony into a deep hole, as led chained by a monk.

Direct adrenalin shot to the imaginative faculties - just what I needed. I love my friend F not only for arranging this but also for all the czech translations and background connections.