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Matthew Sweet explores a century of surrealism.

In 1924 Andre Breton published the Manifesto of Surrealism, giving shape to a set of ideas that had a profound effect on cultural and artistic life. Despite the manifesto, Surrealism was less a cast-iron ideology than an evolving set of principles. In short, it aimed to loosen the shackles of rationality and to liberate minds. It drew on our dream lives, our unconscious selves and our nightmare visions. Not simply in the service of shock: surrealism sought to upend settled assumptions and change the world.

We might think first of the visual arts – of vivid and puzzling paintings – but Breton was first of all concerned with writing. And Surrealists went on to use any and all methods to dislocate conventional reason: poems, texts, photographs, collages, film. But in our digital age can the juxtapositions of surrealism carry any urgency? Has its emancipatory potential seeped away with familiarity and the easy ability to cut and paste? Can surrealism still be subversive? And, as we tell the stories and discuss the ideas, can we infuse this programme with an authentic surrealist spirit?

With Louisa Buck, Hamed Maiye, Desmond Morris, Adjoa Osei and Perdita Sinclair.

With grateful thanks to Sabina Stent.