Alice in a steampunk universe

 

The video presents Alice in a steampunk universe, building a visually coherent world of gears, machines, and industrial landscapes that dialogue with the imagery of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The work appears competent and carefully constructed, not only because of the quality of the AI animation, but also because of the consistency of its atmosphere and narrative. There is a sense of creation that goes beyond the mere generation of images, organizing a world that unfolds with intention and continuity. 

 At the same time, two questions arise. What does this interpretation show that is truly new about Alice as a figure of dream and imagination? And, in shaping this world, what does it say about the creative voice of the author who imagines her? The visual language moves within the familiar visual language of the steampunk imagination, which opens another curiosity. What might emerge if Alice began to slip slightly beyond these familiar stylistic signals and move toward a more singular vision? After all, every Alice is also a mirror. Who is Alice, and who are we when we imagine her?

Alice by @surreailist

 

@surreailist creates short videos that resemble dark fairy tales. The imagery echoes classic cinema and folklore, but follows an unstable emotional logic where beauty becomes excessive, romance turns uncomfortable, and care begins to feel almost threatening.

His work draws on a tradition of surreal and transgressive cinema, recalling filmmakers such as Andrzej Żuławski, Wojciech Has, and David Lynch, along with visual echoes of artists like Francis Bacon and Max Ernst.

Artificial intelligence makes it possible to bring these references together in brief sequences filled with retro textures, theatrical staging, and occasional hints of gore, unfolding in hypnotic, anachronistic loops.

Rather than telling stories, the videos operate as sensory descents that gradually pull the viewer away, until one realizes they are already inside the rabbit hole.

Curiouser and curiouser

 

 

A new ballet based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass will premiere at the Hamburg State Opera on June 20, 2026.

The production, titled Wonderland, is choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky and created for the Hamburg Ballet, with music performed by the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg. The stage design is by Sebastian Hannak, costumes by David Szauder, and dramaturgy by Vivien Arnold.

Carroll’s two books, published in the 19th century, remain a recurring source for reinterpretations across different artistic forms. The characters of Wonderland, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts, continue to circulate as cultural figures far beyond the original texts.

This new ballet revisits Alice’s journey through a world governed by its own logic, a place that has often been read as dream, parallel reality, or exploration of the unconscious.

Premiere: June 20, 2026
Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg Ballet

Tim Walker Through the Looking-Glass

 The photographs by Tim Walker resonate with the imaginative world of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass through their playful distortion of space, scale, and narrative logic. The giant chessboard immediately evokes the chess game that structures Carroll’s mirror world, where movement across squares becomes a metaphor for transformation and passage.

At the same time, the images echo the visual atmosphere of John Tenniel, whose illustrations shaped the iconic look of Alice’s universe. Walker’s staging, however, pushes this imagery into a theatrical and slightly surreal territory, blending historical references with childlike imagination.

The presence of Edie Campbell moving across the oversized chessboard suggests a contemporary Alice navigating an unstable landscape, where fashion, art history, and fantasy intersect. Like Alice herself, she appears both participant and observer inside a world governed by strange but compelling rules.

In this way, Walker’s images do not simply illustrate Alice; they recreate the sensation of entering her world. Perspective bends, the familiar becomes uncanny, and the viewer is invited to step onto the board and wander through a dreamlike terrain where history, play, and imagination meet.

 

 

 

 

ALICE COLLECTORS: Natalia Bragaru

part 1/2 

@kidsbookexplorer 

www.kidsbookexplorer.com

 Based in Australia and born in Moldova, Natalia Bragaru is a passionate explorer of illustrated literature who turns each book into a window of wonder. A finance professional by training, she transformed her analytical precision into a refined curatorial eye through her blog KidsBookExplorer, an acclaimed space where more than 150,000 visitors have discovered her thoughtful reviews and visual journeys. 

Her collection began around 2012, when her five-year-old son played the White Rabbit in a children’s theatre adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Searching for the perfect illustrated edition for their reading sessions, Natalia fell down the rabbit hole herself, from Helen Oxenbury to Maggie Taylor, from Robert Ingpen to surrealist artists like Švankmajer and Silberman. Today, she owns over 100 editions of Alice, 70 original artworks mainly by Australian and Russian illustrators, and a few rare Snarks that add a touch of mystery to her shelves. 

 Here we show part of her collection displayed on bookshelves and in thematic arrangements, often grouped by country, as well as her brilliant sculpture inside a book, a piece that evokes Robert Ingpen’s Magic Bookcase. Her interviews with artists such as Gavin L. O’Keefe have been published in Knight Letter, the journal of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. 

Natalia represents the Savvy Reader type of collector: one who integrates Alice into a broader constellation of art and children’s literature. Her Wonderland is not only a personal collection but also a space of learning, inspiration, and dialogue where stories continue to expand the imagination of all who enter. 

In addition to her curatorial work, Natalia has served as a Judge for the 2024 and 2025 Book of the Year Awards by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, in the categories of Picture Books and New Illustrator. These awards, among the most prestigious and long-standing in Australia, have been held annually since 1946, reflecting her deep engagement with the world of contemporary illustration and storytelling.

 

 

 

 

 

ALICE COLLECTORS: The Alice in Wonderland Princess

 @thealiceinwonderlandprincess

 A living fairytale unfolds in her world. Performer and part-time solicitor for the British Parliament, she moves between two realities: one ruled by legal codes and another guided by imagination. She does not simply love Alice in Wonderland. She becomes Alice. Through photos, videos and performances, she steps into her alter ego and creates immersive scenes where fantasy and memory intertwine. Her journey began when she was only three years old, listening to her father read the story aloud. Those moments became her first steps into Wonderland. 

Today, her house, affectionately named Lyndhurst after the town where the real Alice is buried, has turned into a luminous Wonderland museum. Every room glows with pastel colors, teapots, dolls, dresses, mirrors and jewelry that echo the magic of Disney’s 1951 film and the nostalgic charm of vintage treasures. Collecting, for her, is an act of love and remembrance. Each new piece keeps her father’s imagination alive and every shelf holds part of their shared story. 

She calls Alice her alter ego, a reflection of curiosity, courage and boundless imagination. And every single day, she wears something that embodies Alice, a ribbon, a charm, a dress, as if the story itself were stitched into her daily life. Her aesthetic is theatrical and enchanting, filled with carefully staged photos, costumes and videos that captivate thousands of followers. She not only embodies Alice but also transforms into other beloved Disney princesses such as Rapunzel, Aurora, Belle, Ariel, Cinderella and Snow White, creating a living gallery of fairytale identities. 

As a performer, she has brought Alice to life in beautiful estate gardens, in Disneyland, in London, Switzerland and France, enchanting audiences wherever she appears. Beyond collecting, she performs across different worlds of fantasy, blending Disney heritage, performance art and a deeply personal devotion to storytelling. What she dreams of now is to keep expanding this magical universe through new connections, friendships and ever more wonder. For her, Wonderland is not just a story. It is home.

ALICE COLLECTORS: Kristina, the time traveler of wonderlands

@alicesadventurescollection 

 Kristina’s collection is a living bridge between centuries, a library of dreams where antique editions meet contemporary creations. Originally from Lithuania and now based in the USA, she began collecting around 2019, drawn by a childhood fascination with Alice’s courage to be curious and different. Curious, careful and disciplined, she maintains coherence in the creation of her posts like a true cataloguer. 

Her shelves trace an atlas of illustrators, mapping Alice’s global journey through time, style and imagination. Rare old books share space with signed editions and artistic interpretations from all over the world. What matters most to her is not the style, but the artist, especially those she doesn’t yet have. 

She participates in collector groups with an intense exchange of references and information with people from every continent, cultivating deep friendships through this shared curiosity. Her aesthetic is calm and elegant, with books, figures and props photographed with care, creating intimate scenes where every spine and cover tells part of her adventure through wonderlands. 

She treasures the friendships made through collecting, companions who share her devotion to Carroll’s imagination. Her dream item is the edition illustrated by Japanese artist Hiroko Hanna ( @hannalice2023 )

For Kristina, collecting is not about possession but connection. Each book is a mirror reflecting creativity, memory and the timeless joy of following the White Rabbit.

 

ALICE COLLECTORS: Yonatan Hyman - A Collection as an Atlas of Imagination

 @collecting_alice / collectingalice.com 

 If you have ever held a vintage edition of Alice in Wonderland with no artist credited and felt that peculiar mix of beauty and mystery, you will feel at home in Yonatan Hyman’s universe. He is the mind behind Collecting Alice, a project that unfolds between Instagram and his website like a quiet archive of visual memory, gathering twentieth-century editions with a focus on illustration history. His passion began around 1995, when he first read Carroll’s Alice in English and fell in love with its wit, absurdity and dry humor. 

What started as curiosity slowly transformed into a meticulous archival practice. From his home in Israel, his shelves now hold Hebrew translations, political parodies, ornate Art Nouveau and Art Deco editions, early color printings and obscure illustrated versions from across the globe. Among his most treasured pieces are editions given to him by his late father, early Punch magazine prints featuring Tenniel’s work, Gwynedd Hudson’s books, and a first printing illustrated by Willy Pogany. 

Among the images he shares, some stand out for their unexpected intimacy, like the wooden chairs he had made while traveling in Malawi, East Africa, around 1996: objects that quietly mark his collecting life. Yonatan’s taste gravitates toward richly designed vintage editions. He is attentive to texture and print quality, to the weight of thick paper, the charm of embossed covers and the quiet dignity of early printing techniques. His captions mix gentle irony, historical insight and tender nostalgia. 

When he posts an anonymous illustration, he often writes: “Ah, the good old days when you could publish a book packed with beautiful art without bothering to name the artist.” His posts invite viewers to look closely, compare visual details and trace the evolution of graphic design across decades. 

Explore more at collectingalice.com, where each edition becomes a small piece of a larger cartography of imagination, mapping the many visual lives of Alice through the eyes of a devoted collector.