… Little Nikolai is getting out of the boat when he suddenly notices a talking, clothed white rabbit with a pocket watch who runs past him in a great hurry. Intrigued, Nikolai follows the rabbit and falls, under a large white flower, into a long tunnel with three closed doors at the end….

From 15 June to 15 September, LAB Art, dedicated to exhibitions of international artists in the Middle East, presents Adventures in Wonderland at the MDM Museum, a large space in the Promenade du Port in Porto Cervo hosting research activities in areas such as design, art and the cuisine of great international chefs like Elio Sironi in Bistrò Madai and Roberto Okabe in Finger’s.  The exhibition path covers four floors, which represent the stratospheres of the earth, freely inspired by the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, bringing together works by great artists on the contemporary international scene around the theme of the relativity of space and time, reflected in the transitoriness of existence in Porto Cervo:

…Nikolai opens one of the smaller doors and finds himself underground and a little frightened almost as if he had fallen into the centre of the earth! He rubs his eyes to get used to the dark and realises that a number of small eyes are observing him…

In the basement: Underground Cavern with the Skull Panels, the last works of the “rebel brothers” of contemporary art Jake & Dinos Chapman and a large Nature Painting by Keith Tyson interested in the process of creation and fortuitousness: how, in this way, a work of art becomes independent of the artist’s gesture, following unpredictable factors which go beyond our understanding.

…Nikolai emerges into a garden full of light and bright colours and feels as if he has grown in stature. A woman with her legs behind her head is staring at him, she is called Kate…

On the ground floor: Internal garden aims to reverse the external/internal experience of the spectator who enters the museum, reconstructing a garden dotted with the works of Marc Quinn who has always drawn inspiration from the theme of life and death in nature like the Flower Paintings which crystallise, with an artistic gesture, life in a moment of eternal beauty.

….The Prince tells him he is in a magic place of fantasy adventures where everyone is free to be what they want ….

On the first floor: The Prince Room is a white room housing works by artists like Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol and Zhang Huan with his Ash Paintings created with ash gathered from the Buddhist temples, bearing the souls and hopes of the faithful.

….Nikolai looks at the sky and is caught up in it: he admires it, fascinated by night sky where stars shine bright and satellites move fast. Suddenly he hears voices, there are astronauts, some Russian like him and others American, all talking about their adventures in space…

On the second floor: The Sky is a room that creates a night atmosphere, exhibiting the art of Dionisio Gonzalez, a work combining photography and architecture just presented at the Real Venice show during the 54^th Venice Biennale; the series of photographs on astronauts Disportraits by Matthias Schaller now on show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro and a Night Sky by Angela Bulloch.

….Nikolai wakes up, looks at his brother playing and leaves him to go and think about what has just happened to him, he stands up and gets out of the boat for the first time.

Artists on show:

Jake&Dinos Chapman , Dionisio Gonzalez, Damien Hirst, Zhang Huan, Takashi Murakami, Marc Quinn, Matthias Schaller,   Bosco Sodi, Keith Tyson  and Piotr Uklanski