Reviving and expanding the diorama as a medium for contemporary art forms

The miniature worlds of the 38 contemporary artists featured in Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities’ at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York transport the viewer into fantastical lands, surreal spaces, and secret environments, challenging our sense of what is real and what is fabricated.

‘Otherworldly’ features artists who are reviving and expanding the diorama as a medium for contemporary art through site-specific installation, video, photography, and even snow globes. Fifteen of the featured photographers will reveal both their hand-built dioramas and resulting photographic images—displayed separately throughout the galleries.

Organized by Chief Curator David McFadden, the display explores the varied approaches to the diorama, featuring artists from around the globe who create dioramas as free-standing sculptures, subjects for photographs, and the basis for animated videos. Each of the tiny built worlds are realized through an intense engagement with a diverse set of materials and a meticulous attention to detail that allows for the production of elaborate environments that are at once familiar and foreign.

“The astonishing and intricate visual effects of the art in Otherworldly both invites and disarms the viewer, pulling one deeper into a fantastical and miniature world,” said Holly Hotchner, the museum’s Nanette L. Laitman Director. “The exhibition has opened up a new arena of exploration that the museum has long been fascinated by—photography.

The works in the exhibition are loosely organized around four themes that provide a narrative thread for the diverse subject matters. ‘Apocalyptic Archaeology’ introduces viewers to architectural monuments and interiors, frequently in ruin, as a means of exploring deterioration and decay. ‘Unnatural Nature’ explores our fascination with simulating lands both real and purely imaginary.

Works pertaining to ‘Dreams and Memories’ question the nature and meaning of recalled experiences, and hidden, secretive spaces and unspoken narratives are examined in ‘Voyeur/Provocateurs.’

“In a social and artistic environment in which digital programming and cyberworlds are embedded in almost every aspect of our day to day activity, these artists are taking the bold step to reengage with the tangible and going back to the roots of artistic practice,” said McFadden.

“They are creating magical worlds that, whether depicting floating landscapes, haunting interiors, or abandoned rooms, are all about place, emotion, memory, and vision—both perceived and created.”

(Information courtesy: The Museum of Arts and Design, New York)