Accidentally Wes Anderson

 

I like Wes Anderson. Jamie had never heard of him, but he's seen some of his movies so that's a start. We wouldn't class ourselves as die hard fans of any of his movies or anything, but we can appreciate them and the aesthetic does look pleasing.

So when the opportunity arose to go to an exhibition detailing photos and artwork which looks like something straight out of a WA movie, it was a case of shrugging and saying to each other 'meh, why not?'

And so we why notted, and took ourselves off to the big city for our second random London Adventure.

Saturday the 27th of July began with us hitting London and immediately being met with an issue on the tube. This led to us being 15 minutes late to this event, but luckily we were let in anyway (we believe the exhibition closes in this city soon) and we're given a token for a poster instead of the photobooth experience we had paid for as this was now out of order. Not great, but not awful either.

This exhibition is divided into sections, each section has a theme which the photos are centered around. These range from doorways to hotels, nature to signs, they are all very aesthetically pleasing and bright and colourful, but the experience wasn't very interactive. It was very neat and also bright and colourful, but it seemed quite bare, there were photo opportunities later in the exhibition, but it was just a few rooms with some photos on the wall, nice, but a little...boring.

This was something to easily zip through. Both Jamie and I reckon we have ADHD so we can take in these wonderful visuals, but we don't have an interest in sticking around for ages looking at one piece of work, and I am especially bad for this, he will try and appreciate the visual in the moment. I like to reflect on it afterwards, but in the moment I want to see as much as possible and so can zip through something like this in minutes. Museums are something I adore, but again I look and run so I can study and reflect later. It's a shame really but this exhibition did nothing to try and stop that. In terms of colours there was a lot to draw me in, but not enough to keep me in one place for too long.

The Art of the Brick kept me occupied for longer than this one did. I think if Jay hadn't have held me back and got me to slow down a little bit we would have been out of there within 10 minutes. Luckily we spent about half an hour in the HOUR long self tour event. I don't think anyone would have been in there for an hour, unless of course it was at full capacity, but during our visit there was us and 2 other couples, both of which seemed more bohemian and appreciative of the art displayed than we were.

As the photo opportunities arose we were pleased to note that tripods were there to use for those on their own to give a full AWA type photo, or to get us both in. We got to take photos in the Nature section and the travel section to this affect and the props and backdrop fully made this experience for us, otherwise I think we would have labelled it as boring/quirky art gallery rather than the fun exhibition it was meant to be.

This exhibition seems very indie, very out there, almost hipsterish, very influencer. I suppose we are technically classed as the latter due to the nature of our blogs, but I'm not certain that this sort of thing appeals to anyone who isn't trying hard to be unusual or different.

My favourite themed room was the hotel themed one. This of course was inspired by The Grand Budapest Hotel. I loved the conflict of colours in the short hallway, I loved the keys, I loved the look at grand, isolated, epic hotels. I really liked the curtain at the end of the hall inviting us to enter the unknown. Jamie's was the hotel and travel sections as he liked the themes and being inspired by the travel methods and destinations.

As the self tour drew to an end, the final room was the cinema room. This showed a video in several parts of an exploration of Switzerland which has spaces that heavily inspires and fits this aesthetic. We didn't stay long for this bit as time was getting on and our next experience (luckily only next door) was due to start shortly and it gave me too many holiday ideas. However, the film showed that Switzerland was certainly on our bucket list going forward as these places are idyllic!

Entering into the foyer which doubled as the gift shop we were met with the photobooth which did not work, as well as a small postal exhibit. This showed postal related photos in keeping with the AWA theme and a postbox which allowed you to send postcards to yourself which we adored. We collected our posters, said our goodbyes to the lovely people at the front desk and made our way to the second experience of the day.

All in all we'd say that this was a fun little half hour, but not one we'd spend huge amounts of money on unless we were invested in the cause. Out of the 3 events we had planned for the day this was our least favourite, but it was a gentle start to the rest of the afternoon and one which was relatively enjoyable.

Accidentally Wes Anderson is family friendly (although we think kids might be bored and not understand the point of this) and offers an in depth look at aesthetically pleasing areas within this great big world. While it has quite a niche audience it was an interesting look into someone else's mindspace and it wasn't a bad event. This was actually quite inspirational in a strange sense, but overall we found this quite calming, this was a peaceful experience. We also got to apply what we had learnt at the next event as one of the photo ops there was very Accidentally Wes Anderson-esque.

DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images our ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source.. 

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