1000 Doors – Door Within a Door is an interactive art exhibition that presents itself as an immersive, eerie maze where no two rooms are the same. The artist has gone to great efforts to create a ‘house’ that is decrepit and in disrepair, and the attention-to-detail is evident all throughout – creating a truly unsettling atmosphere. As an art exhibition, I think that 1000 Doors is a standout both in its uniqueness and its ability to evoke suspense and paranoia in guests. As an ‘experience’ however, I definitely think that 1000 Doors’ bark is worse than its bite.
The hype surrounding the exhibition likened it to a claustrophobic’s nightmare, an anxiety-inducing ‘must-see’. Compared to the claims made by its advertising, I found it to be a little underwhelming. The suspense of ‘what’s behind the next door?’ depleted every time you turned a knob and realised the answer: nothing. True, this maze doesn’t claim to have jump scares or other horror tropes – and in fact, I think that would have cheapened the experience. As an interactive art exhibition however, I do feel as though 1000 Doors would have benefitted from a narrative structure that becomes clearer deeper into the house. The aforementioned attention-to-detail does a fabulous job at insinuating that something sinister occurred in the house – but we are never given anything to offer even a vague storyline. The music and sound effects emphasise the eerie atmosphere, but there is no context to this atmosphere. Furthermore, ‘maze’ is a generous word for what is actually just one route, with a few dead ends along the way (and you won’t get further than one or two rooms before realising you’ve made a mistake). The website says to allow 30 minutes to complete the walkthrough. I managed to complete it within 15, and that included a retreat to explore any dead ends that I’d missed.
Still, I think 1000 Doors is an impressive feat of artistic expression. And with any art, it is up for interpretation – which is perhaps why the artist neglected to include any kind of narrative structure. While I think its promotional material was a little misleading, I do think that it is still worth a look if you have any spare time in the Garden of Unearthly Delights. At the very least, it offers an immersive atmosphere that you can project your own imagination into.
Originally published for Eventalaide
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