Grupo Surrealista : Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme

Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme ("International Exhibition of Surrealismo", 1938)

From the CD "Noises and Whispers from Avant Gardes"

In January 1938, a collective exhibition of the surrealist group organized by André Breton and Paul Eluard was inaugurated in the Gallery Beaux-Arts of Paris. In the great central room, organized by Marcel Duchamp ( the "generator-referee"), it had a cave-like aspect where there were 1200 coal sacks in the ceiling, the ground covered with leaves, totally in the dark which forced the public to use small electrical lanterns (by initiative of Man Ray), so that the visitors discovered the works. They included scents of Brazil roasted coffee (according to Benjamín Péret’s idea) and played a gramophone disc with sounds of the jungle, specially with monkey sounds, included in this recording. This exhibit is an antecedent of the environments and the artistic and sound installation, where light, scent, and the journey, and the sounds of the gramophone interrelate with the rumor of the footsteps and the visitor’s expressions of astonishment.