Since I first read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and later watched the movies) I have imagined what it would be like to meander through a magical world where everything is made of candy and chocolate (as a South African, candy is not synonymous with chocolate as it is in the US). While it’s not exactly Willy Wonka’s chocolate wonderland, Candytopia, the pop-up museum at Penn Plaza in NYC, offers a partial realization of this fantasy with its sweet constructions and installations that are remarkable works of art. Candytopia describes the exhibition as “a sprawling sanctuary of confectionary bliss” that “celebrates the vibrant colors and flavors of our favorite sugary delights through a series of interactive art installations in over a dozen environments, from flying unicorn pigs to a marshmallow tsunami”.
Before entering Candytopia, you can enter your e-mail address to
receive a QR code to get photos in each of the rooms throughout the
exhibition. You simply scan the code at
each of the photo ops and the photos are e-mailed to you to download (and share
on Instagram of course). A kooky Willy
Wonka-esque guide then appears to open the gates to Candytopia and provides an orientation
in the first room before sending you on your way through a giant tunnel of “taffy”.
One of my favourite rooms was the one featuring famous works of
art – recreated in candy. It was fascinating
to study the art up-close and to read about each piece’s composition. Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is made from green
apple sour belt, blue tuberoos, unicorn poop striped black vines and took 111
hours to construct. For the Mona Lisa, a
total of 6.5 thousand cherry rock candy crystals, jelly beans, skulls, licorice
pastels and mini jawbreakers were used to recreate the iconic artwork. It took the candy artists 22 hours alone to
weave and curl Marilyn Monroe’s hair (“a diva’s hair should always be picture
perfect”), while the entire piece (made from blue bottles, yellow laces, black
licorice jelly beans, pastel licorice, pastel jawbreakers and mini red gummy
bears) took 82 hours. Other highlights included the Frida Kahlo portrait and “The Scream”.
From here you enter a tranquil candy-covered aquarium with all
kinds of underwater creatures on display, including colourful seahorses, a lobster,
a stingray, a huge shark made of gummy bears and a life-sized diver.
Another room that was a lot of fun was the psychedelic rainbow room
featuring flying pigs and unicorns sculptured from candy. The assistant in this room was really good at
her job of showering you with confetti – we got two blasts, which resulted in
us leaving a trail of confetti all the way home. This room also has a pair of adorable candy
pigs, one of which was filled with Trolli Twisted Sour Brite Crawlers, and a
rotating platform for a very cool photo op (and more confetti).
The final room features a giant “marshmallow pit” (the
marshmallows are not real but rather foam replicas of the squishy treat) which
takes you back to your childhood as soon as you dive in (just don’t think about
the number of germ-ridden children who have dived in to the pit since the
exhibition’s opening).
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