Mysterious Al’s newest project, The Spookhouse, opens next month.
Melbourne-based artist Mysterious Al has been plenty busy since 2019’s Blinking into the Sunlight. For the past two years, he has been working on his new project but before the project could truly take shape, he needed to find the perfect vehicle for his exhibition—a 1950’s ghost train.
Apparently, there aren’t that many in Australia. ”Finding the right one involved going down a few rabbit holes,” he says. Thankfully he found the right one and after travelling through three states to get to Melbourne, it’s here—nostalgia and all.
Although the ghost train has been completely reimagined and redesigned, inside and out, visitors to The Spookhouse will still need to climb aboard a rickety cart that will take them on a multi-sensory trip, twisting and turning their way through a labyrinth of ”animated characters, paintings, projections and special effects.”
This one-of-a-kind experience has been filled with paintings, projections and his first attempts at sculpture as well as technologies like robotics and sound effects. Mysterious Al’s iconic masks will light up, move and surely spook any unsuspecting visitor. But like Pixar movies, Al’s art can be enjoyed by both children and adults.
The ten-person ghost train will then spit visitors out into an adjoining gallery space where 70 new art pieces will be on show, all of which will be available for purchase.
The Spookhouse can be found at HoMie’s warehouse at 35-53 Emma Street in Collingwood and will open on 19 March before closing on 28 March.
Tickets ($8-12) are available for purchase now.