JULIA SCHER Julia Scher, Wonderland, 2018 | Page 6

WONDERLAND, 1998
Twenty years after its first iteration, Julia Scher
reenacts her historical environment, Wonderland,
1998. notes of Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 song White
Rabbit that Scher incorporates in the environment’s
soundtrack.
The work was originally conceived—in a smaller
scale—for the group exhibition Performance Anxiety
at the MCA, Chicago, 1997, but was first presented
in its final design in New York a year later, at Andrea
Rosen Gallery. The installation subsequently travelled
to various institutions such as the CAPC–Musée d’art
contemporain in Bordeaux, where it was included in
the infamously censored group exhibition Présumés
innocents [Presumed Innocents], 2000. On the walls, complementing the central assemblage
of technological apparatuses and associative
materials, three large-scale Duratrans prints depict
children—among them American actress and director
Lena Dunham aged 10—dressed in the same pink
Immersed in a theatrical pink and purple light
atmosphere, Scher’s Wonderland is a multimedia
environment where visitors are welcomed by the
sound of the artist’s authoritative yet soothing voice:
‘Attention. There are live cameras here in Wonderland,
recording you… Warning. Your size may change, here
in Wonderland. Thank you for coming!’
At the center of the space are two semi-circular
child-sized desks arrayed with complex technical
equipment and cabling, vintage computer monitors
with fake live surveillance feed, various ephemera—
such as bags of White Rabbit Creamy Candy—and
Scher’s signature pink guard caps and customized
uniforms with embroidered patches reading
‘Security by Julia’. These elements form both the
nervous system and the metaphorical rabbit hole
of a dystopian vision of Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland, a reference underlined by the intro
A still from Prince’s music video for Purple Rain, 1984, which
influenced the lighting design and atmosphere of Wonderland.
uniforms and caps that are neatly folded on the
desks. The children, carrying police sticks and other
technical equipment which relate to surveillance and
supposed security, playfully embody the authority
invested in security guards and police officers. On the
facing wall, an alignment of convex, concave, and
curved mirrors—reminiscent of a Fun House—reflects
and distorts the enlarged photographs of the child-
guards, contributing to the surreal atmosphere of the
room.
The interactive installation was conceived for children.
By placing them in a position of control and authority,
Scher reverses the traditional roles adults/children,
protectors/protected, while blurring the line between
the ideas of surveillance, security, and threat.
A film still of the 1951 Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland.
Artist’s sketch of the 1998 installation of Wonderland.
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