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Today, Russell Tovey, actor and art lover, is following the trail of this mind-bending art movement to see where it’s ended up at a time when the world we live in seems increasingly surreal. Looking at disjoined, discordant, juxtaposed images on our screens - does it mean we’re all Surrealists now?

The concept of Surrealism was dreamt up 100 years ago, after the First World War, when the French poet André Breton published his first ‘Surrealist manifesto’ in October 1924. Breton had big ambitions for Surrealism to tap into the unconscious, via the power of dreams, and reach beyond the narrow realism and destructive rationality he saw around him.

Surrealism first started entering popular culture, when the Surrealist artists began to work in other fields: Rene Magritte had a publicity firm, Salvador Dali advised Hitchcock and Disney and Man Ray was a successful fashion photographer. Understanding and exploring our inner world became fashionable during the mid 20th century, thanks in part to Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, who was a huge influence on the Surrealists. But by now, Surrealist techniques of tapping into the unconscious mind, were also being co-opted by the fast-growing advertising industry. As well as filtering into film, fashion and advertising, Surrealism has thoroughly influenced comedy, especially British comedy.

With Louisa Buck; Martin Creed; Anna María; Hugh Morrison; Lisa Mullen; Mark Polizzotti; Vic Reeves; John Luke Roberts; Laurence Scott; David Shrigley and Rory Sutherland.

Producers: Melissa FitzGerald and Eliane Glaser

Sound Design: Tony Churnside

A Zinc Audio Production

Cover Photo: Martin Creed and Russell Tovey