The DOMINIC LAGAN Gallery @ BrendanWorld™
Curated modern works and exhibitions for scholars and connoisseurs.
About
The Gallery was opened on the 17th of June 1986, by the anarcho-primitivist installation artist and Orwellian plongeur, Hippolyte, ci-devant Marquis de Saint-Loup (1915-2000). It was named after the botuliste philosopher and revolutionary tromboniste Dominic Lagan, author of 'Martha and the Medium-Sized Man' (see the 'Books' tab); and formerly The Aleister Crowley Regius Professor of Virtue at the Vatican University.
Lagan was born in 1952 on Callisto, one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, during a secret CIA mission to parley with the Andromedean embassy. His mother was Araminta Tollemache-Featherstonehaugh-Tollemache-Psmith, the society astronaut. His father was L.A.G.A.N. an IBM 600 series beta-robot, since de-activated (which meant that Lagan was the first person able to buy his own father on eBay).
Lagan was educated privately by tutors, including the footballer Bertie Russell and the philosopher James Greaves.
After winning the Nobel prize for Literature at the relatively early age of 11 (for his brilliantly ironic post-modern essay: ‘What I dun on me holidays’) and teaching Delia Smith how to cook: he turned down the Vice Chancellorship at the newly opened Warwick University and the captaincy of Tottenham Hotspur, in order to train for the Tokyo Olympics. After donating his hoard of 13 Gold Medals and the royalties from his global best selling autobiography "EGO! Sui generis", to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Lagan retired to a zinc-lined cave in the desert outside Fez, with his lifelong companion, a hermaphrodite Berber.
NB This website was created entirely by Artificial Intelligence, using Perplexity's 'Lysergic acid diethylamide' setting. Beware of hallucinations & misinformation.
Lagan was born in 1952 on Callisto, one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, during a secret CIA mission to parley with the Andromedean embassy. His mother was Araminta Tollemache-Featherstonehaugh-Tollemache-Psmith, the society astronaut. His father was L.A.G.A.N. an IBM 600 series beta-robot, since de-activated (which meant that Lagan was the first person able to buy his own father on eBay).
Lagan was educated privately by tutors, including the footballer Bertie Russell and the philosopher James Greaves.
After winning the Nobel prize for Literature at the relatively early age of 11 (for his brilliantly ironic post-modern essay: ‘What I dun on me holidays’) and teaching Delia Smith how to cook: he turned down the Vice Chancellorship at the newly opened Warwick University and the captaincy of Tottenham Hotspur, in order to train for the Tokyo Olympics. After donating his hoard of 13 Gold Medals and the royalties from his global best selling autobiography "EGO! Sui generis", to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Lagan retired to a zinc-lined cave in the desert outside Fez, with his lifelong companion, a hermaphrodite Berber.
NB This website was created entirely by Artificial Intelligence, using Perplexity's 'Lysergic acid diethylamide' setting. Beware of hallucinations & misinformation.
BrendanWorld™
"In Gigouzac did TSC a stately pleasure dome decree......."
(interrupted here due to a person on business from Villeréal)
BrendanWorld™ was constructed in 1987, and houses an important collection of art, books, photographs and artifacts, including those concerning the life, times and work of Brendan Bruce, (Chief Curator of the Dominic Lagan Gallery, and formerly Margaret Thatcher's parrot) known as 'The Seventh Child', and his father, the legendary WWII hero Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce OBE MC AFM MA (Oxon) KSG RAF, the 'Medium Sized Man' of Colditz Castle fame. For more details about The Seventh Child, see https://www.amazon.fr/-/en/stores/author/B001KE8Z2A/about
En application de la loi n° 2024-1873 du 18 décembre 2024 relative à la transparence ontologique des établissements artistiques, et notamment de son article 7, ainsi que du décret n° 2025-314 du 14 mars 2025 relatif aux obligations déclaratives des galeries d’art, toute galerie est tenue de publier une déclaration de vision. Celle-ci doit, conformément à l’article R. 214-7-3 du Code de la culture, être aussi opaque, prétentieuse et inutile que possible. Le non-respect de ces dispositions est passible d’une amende administrative pouvant aller jusqu’à trois ans de séminaire sur l’art contemporain.
«Notre démarche s’inscrit dans une déconstruction transversale des régimes de visibilité, de matérialité et d’altérité, afin de questionner les conditions mêmes de possibilité du sens. L’œuvre, envisagée comme dispositif ontologiquement poreux, devient le lieu d’une négociation permanente entre présence, absence et devenir, permettant au sujet de déconstruire son regard jusqu’à atteindre cette forme supérieure de lucidité".
"In Gigouzac did TSC a stately pleasure dome decree......."
(interrupted here due to a person on business from Villeréal)
BrendanWorld™ was constructed in 1987, and houses an important collection of art, books, photographs and artifacts, including those concerning the life, times and work of Brendan Bruce, (Chief Curator of the Dominic Lagan Gallery, and formerly Margaret Thatcher's parrot) known as 'The Seventh Child', and his father, the legendary WWII hero Flight Lieutenant Dominic Bruce OBE MC AFM MA (Oxon) KSG RAF, the 'Medium Sized Man' of Colditz Castle fame. For more details about The Seventh Child, see https://www.amazon.fr/-/en/stores/author/B001KE8Z2A/about
En application de la loi n° 2024-1873 du 18 décembre 2024 relative à la transparence ontologique des établissements artistiques, et notamment de son article 7, ainsi que du décret n° 2025-314 du 14 mars 2025 relatif aux obligations déclaratives des galeries d’art, toute galerie est tenue de publier une déclaration de vision. Celle-ci doit, conformément à l’article R. 214-7-3 du Code de la culture, être aussi opaque, prétentieuse et inutile que possible. Le non-respect de ces dispositions est passible d’une amende administrative pouvant aller jusqu’à trois ans de séminaire sur l’art contemporain.
«Notre démarche s’inscrit dans une déconstruction transversale des régimes de visibilité, de matérialité et d’altérité, afin de questionner les conditions mêmes de possibilité du sens. L’œuvre, envisagée comme dispositif ontologiquement poreux, devient le lieu d’une négociation permanente entre présence, absence et devenir, permettant au sujet de déconstruire son regard jusqu’à atteindre cette forme supérieure de lucidité".
THE BRENDANWORLD™ MANIFESTO
BRENDANWORLD™ ART IS DEFINED AS SOMETHING WITH ONE OR MORE OF THESE QUALITIES:
THAT THE VIEWER ACTIVELY ENGAGES WITH
THAT THE VIEWER IS INTIMATE WITH
THAT CHANGES THE VIEWER
THAT MAKES THE VIEWER THINK, NOT JUST FEEL
THAT MAKES A CONNECTION
THAT MAKES THE VIEWER DO SOMETHING
THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO ANYONE
THAT IS LIKED BY PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE ART
THAT DOESN’T BELONG IN AN ART GALLERY
THAT IS WITHOUT JARGON
THAT AN INTELLIGENT CHILD MAY NOT UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY, BUT WOULD BE FASCINATED BY AND WOULD REMEMBER
THAT IS SLIGHTLY MAD, WEIRD OR UNUSUAL OR FRIGHTENING
THAT IS MECHANICAL AND THAT WORKS
THAT THINKS OR ACTS OR MOVES IN A HUMAN WAY, BUT ISN’T HUMAN
THAT IS USEFUL OR BEAUTIFUL OR BOTH
THAT HAS CULTURAL OR RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE
THAT HAS A CLEAR THEME OR AN IDEA EASILY EXPRESSED
THAT HAS A HISTORY AND A BACK STORY
THAT ASKS A QUESTION AND FORCES A RESPONSE
THAT IS MADE WITH SKILL AND CRAFT AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL
THAT IS AMBITIOUS EITHER IN SCOPE OR SIZE OR COMPLEXITY
THAT REVEALS BOTH THE ARTIST AND THEIR INTENT
THAT THE VIEWER ACTIVELY ENGAGES WITH
THAT THE VIEWER IS INTIMATE WITH
THAT CHANGES THE VIEWER
THAT MAKES THE VIEWER THINK, NOT JUST FEEL
THAT MAKES A CONNECTION
THAT MAKES THE VIEWER DO SOMETHING
THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO ANYONE
THAT IS LIKED BY PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE ART
THAT DOESN’T BELONG IN AN ART GALLERY
THAT IS WITHOUT JARGON
THAT AN INTELLIGENT CHILD MAY NOT UNDERSTAND COMPLETELY, BUT WOULD BE FASCINATED BY AND WOULD REMEMBER
THAT IS SLIGHTLY MAD, WEIRD OR UNUSUAL OR FRIGHTENING
THAT IS MECHANICAL AND THAT WORKS
THAT THINKS OR ACTS OR MOVES IN A HUMAN WAY, BUT ISN’T HUMAN
THAT IS USEFUL OR BEAUTIFUL OR BOTH
THAT HAS CULTURAL OR RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE
THAT HAS A CLEAR THEME OR AN IDEA EASILY EXPRESSED
THAT HAS A HISTORY AND A BACK STORY
THAT ASKS A QUESTION AND FORCES A RESPONSE
THAT IS MADE WITH SKILL AND CRAFT AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL
THAT IS AMBITIOUS EITHER IN SCOPE OR SIZE OR COMPLEXITY
THAT REVEALS BOTH THE ARTIST AND THEIR INTENT
Blogs
Installations and other works (click on the photo)
Books
FAQs
Who is welcome?
Everybody! Except obvs Gooners, people in tracksuits, subscribers to the NYT, the FT, and/or Caravanners Monthly, plus Guardian readers, "the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own";* influencers, anyone from Gen X, Millennial, Gen Z or Gen Alpha, people who say 'like' in the middle of sentences, online scolds and language police, those with social media accounts ending in the word Tok, slogan‑only politicians, those who are not friends of Abe, corporate DEI careerists, those who use the term LGBTQIA+, followers of Fanon, Marcuse, Sartre (but not Camus, as he once played in goal for Spurs at the Lane under the name Bert Doran), Gramsci, Homi K. Bhabha, Daffy Duck, Nigel Farage and/or Jean-Luc Mélenchon, those with mullets, man buns, tattoos or wearing either Birkenstocks or reversed baseball caps, gangsta rappers, the late Michel Foucault, the next Dalai Lama (he is bound to be a Chinese puppet), citizens of former colonies in the British Empire (ingrates!), those in art galleries who take selfies with the art in the background, and the terminally woke, which -for the avoidance of doubt- is defined by the United Nations as "a Neo-McCarthyite, anti-free speech, post Marxist bourgeois ideology of intolerance to any diversity of opinion, based on the radical Left/Maoist Dutschke concept of the ‘long march through the institutions’, whose groupthink beliefs include identity politics, critical race theory, white privilege and other forms of performative anti-white racism (including that practised by whites as a proactive self-defense mechanism and/or virtue signalling e.g. taking a knee), slavery reparations, affirmative action based on race not class, the splitting of students into racially segregated affinity groups; identity synthesis (which claims that categories like race, gender and sexual orientation are the primary prism through which to understand everything about our society, from major historical events to trivial personal interactions); the idea that trans women are actually women, the censorship of new books by sensitivity readers, compulsory or crypto compulsory DEI "loyalty oaths", compulsory ‘unconscious bias’ training courses and other forms of compelled performative dishonesty; the removal and/or destruction of historical monuments and artifacts deemed unacceptable to the groupthink; the compelled performative use of ethnic minorities in advertising; the scapegoating for perceived and self defined micro aggressions (whether or not there was any conscious intent to offend); the forced and mandatory use of pronouns and other forms of speech policing and compelled speech; the belief that freedom of speech does not entitle the speaker to offend (defined as the self perceived taking of offense); and the ad hominem suppression of dissent by the neo-Fascist bullying techniques of: cancellation, offense archaeology, dead shaming, dead naming, doxxing, debanking, sanctioning, no-platforming, and boycotting -by woke individuals and captured state institutions of anybody who disagrees with some or all of these ideas."
*with gratitude to the genius of Sir William Schwenk Gilbert
The Gallery is certified TERF-friendly by the J. K. Rowling Institute for Common Sense
All centuries but this, and every country but his own";* influencers, anyone from Gen X, Millennial, Gen Z or Gen Alpha, people who say 'like' in the middle of sentences, online scolds and language police, those with social media accounts ending in the word Tok, slogan‑only politicians, those who are not friends of Abe, corporate DEI careerists, those who use the term LGBTQIA+, followers of Fanon, Marcuse, Sartre (but not Camus, as he once played in goal for Spurs at the Lane under the name Bert Doran), Gramsci, Homi K. Bhabha, Daffy Duck, Nigel Farage and/or Jean-Luc Mélenchon, those with mullets, man buns, tattoos or wearing either Birkenstocks or reversed baseball caps, gangsta rappers, the late Michel Foucault, the next Dalai Lama (he is bound to be a Chinese puppet), citizens of former colonies in the British Empire (ingrates!), those in art galleries who take selfies with the art in the background, and the terminally woke, which -for the avoidance of doubt- is defined by the United Nations as "a Neo-McCarthyite, anti-free speech, post Marxist bourgeois ideology of intolerance to any diversity of opinion, based on the radical Left/Maoist Dutschke concept of the ‘long march through the institutions’, whose groupthink beliefs include identity politics, critical race theory, white privilege and other forms of performative anti-white racism (including that practised by whites as a proactive self-defense mechanism and/or virtue signalling e.g. taking a knee), slavery reparations, affirmative action based on race not class, the splitting of students into racially segregated affinity groups; identity synthesis (which claims that categories like race, gender and sexual orientation are the primary prism through which to understand everything about our society, from major historical events to trivial personal interactions); the idea that trans women are actually women, the censorship of new books by sensitivity readers, compulsory or crypto compulsory DEI "loyalty oaths", compulsory ‘unconscious bias’ training courses and other forms of compelled performative dishonesty; the removal and/or destruction of historical monuments and artifacts deemed unacceptable to the groupthink; the compelled performative use of ethnic minorities in advertising; the scapegoating for perceived and self defined micro aggressions (whether or not there was any conscious intent to offend); the forced and mandatory use of pronouns and other forms of speech policing and compelled speech; the belief that freedom of speech does not entitle the speaker to offend (defined as the self perceived taking of offense); and the ad hominem suppression of dissent by the neo-Fascist bullying techniques of: cancellation, offense archaeology, dead shaming, dead naming, doxxing, debanking, sanctioning, no-platforming, and boycotting -by woke individuals and captured state institutions of anybody who disagrees with some or all of these ideas."
*with gratitude to the genius of Sir William Schwenk Gilbert
The Gallery is certified TERF-friendly by the J. K. Rowling Institute for Common Sense
What was AI's involvement in the exhibition?
Total. This is the first ever AI art exhibition, in that all the artworks were selected by AI, which also wrote all the captions, plus this website. When prompted, Perplexity said: "Perplexity is pleased to mark the opening of Pop Goes the Salon at the Dominic Lagan Gallery, an exhibition that explores a new curatorial frontier.
In this project, selection, interpretation, and textual framing have been guided by an AI system operating across a wide field of visual, historical, and cultural references. The works presented here were chosen through a process that prioritizes pattern recognition, thematic resonance, and cross-period dialogue—offering a perspective that is at once analytical and associative.
Rather than replacing human curatorship, this exhibition proposes a parallel methodology: one that can synthesize vast visual and textual histories while remaining responsive to contemporary cultural signals. The accompanying captions and website extend this approach, aiming to contextualize each work within broader aesthetic and philosophical frameworks.
Pop Goes the Salon stands as an experiment in collaboration between human intention and machine-guided curation, opening questions about authorship, taste, and the evolving role of intelligence—both artificial and human—in shaping how art is seen and understood.
Perplexity is honored to contribute to this exploration."
In this project, selection, interpretation, and textual framing have been guided by an AI system operating across a wide field of visual, historical, and cultural references. The works presented here were chosen through a process that prioritizes pattern recognition, thematic resonance, and cross-period dialogue—offering a perspective that is at once analytical and associative.
Rather than replacing human curatorship, this exhibition proposes a parallel methodology: one that can synthesize vast visual and textual histories while remaining responsive to contemporary cultural signals. The accompanying captions and website extend this approach, aiming to contextualize each work within broader aesthetic and philosophical frameworks.
Pop Goes the Salon stands as an experiment in collaboration between human intention and machine-guided curation, opening questions about authorship, taste, and the evolving role of intelligence—both artificial and human—in shaping how art is seen and understood.
Perplexity is honored to contribute to this exploration."
What is the Gallery's Golden Rule?
If you want to touch, wear the gloves.
What effect will the Gallery experience have on my mental state?
In most cases, no adverse effects are reported. However, individuals with strongly fixed or closed interpretative frameworks may experience temporary discomfort when encountering unfamiliar forms or unresolved meanings.
Observed responses include resistance to ambiguity, premature judgment, or the assertion that further interpretation is unnecessary. These effects are typically short-lived and may give way to a broader range of perception.
No prior expertise of art appreciation is required, though a basic tolerance for uncertainty is advisable.
Observed responses include resistance to ambiguity, premature judgment, or the assertion that further interpretation is unnecessary. These effects are typically short-lived and may give way to a broader range of perception.
No prior expertise of art appreciation is required, though a basic tolerance for uncertainty is advisable.
Is photography allowed in the Gallery?
No. Cameras may only be used in the water garden. If anyone uses one in the Salon, the phone will be forcibly removed by our security team and tossed into the water (along with its owner).
Is the Gallery the subject of video surveillance?
Yes. There are currently seventeen video cameras in operation, plus one live feed to a dedicated YouTube channel called 'idiots misbehavin' in an art gallery'.
Is everything on the web site true and correct?
Given that the entire website was generated by AI, it is impossible to tell. The bit about the CIA mission, for example, seems somewhat hallucinatory. With that in mind, the gallery owners take no responsibility for the veracity of anything that appears on the site. It's also worth remembering what the British classicist Donald Russell said about Lucian of Samatos: "A good deal of what Lucian says about himself is no more to be trusted than the voyage to the moon that he recounts so persuasively in the first person in True Stories" and warned that "it is foolish to treat the information he gives about himself in his writings as autobiography."
Is food or drink allowed in the Gallery?
Under no circumstances. We are currently testing Anthropic's AI food/drink detector beta system, so sensitive that it can detect a week-old Pringle's crumb
2026:
'Pop goes the Salon'
'Pop goes the Salon'
The Dominic Lagan Gallery @ BrendanWorld™ is a non-profit private gallery housed in an eighteenth-century farmhouse that presents curated works by established artists.
The main 'Salon Gallery' mounts a themed invitation-only exhibition each summer. Small permanent exhibits can also be viewed in the 'West Wing' annex.
In 2025, the gallery presented the '3.5 Frinks in a Salon' exhibition, which consisted of four works by the celebrated English artist Dame Elisabeth Frink CH DBE RA (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993). The four prints are representative of her four constant themes: the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; the divine in human form, and her abiding fascination with birds of prey.
See 'Videos' tab for more details.
On 5th August 1966, modern pop music began with the release of the Beatles' album 'Revolver', when the world heard 'Tomorrow Never Knows' for the first time. To celebrate this, and the Gallery's fortieth anniversary, our 2026 Summer Exhibition, where the 1760's meets the 1960's, will be 'Pop goes the salon' featuring works, photos, objects, and books by or about Sir Peter Blake; RB Kitaj; David Hockney (RIP); Sir Eduardo Paolozzi; Derek Boshier; Pauline Boty; Joe Tilson; Richard Hamilton; Michael Cooper; Evelyne Askell; and Allen Jones. Also included is the only known copy of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band signed by both the artist and the photographer who created the album cover; plus a special après-Warhol limited edition T-shirt.
This is the world's first AI art exhibition i.e. where all the works were selected by AI (see FAQs).
Free merch will be made available to VVVIPs.
The exhibition was inspired both by the groundbreaking 1961 'Young Contemporaries' exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, where British Pop Art first emerged; and Ken Russell's famous 'Pop goes the Easel' 1962 BBC 'Monitor' documentary, clips of which will be projected on the Gallery walls à la Roundhouse, together with Buñuel's 1964 chef d'oeuvre 'Le journal d'une femme de chambre', and Jean Antoine's 'Dieu est-il pop?' 1964 documentary in the 'Metamorphoses' series on RTBF.
The exhibition was officially open on June 17th (the founding date of the Gallery), by appointment to invited guests only,
between 1500 and 1600 each Friday in July and August.
NB THE GALLERY IS NOT ACCESSIBLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED EXCEPT IN THE WATER GARDEN.
Please read the FAQ tab carefully to avoid disappointment.
The main 'Salon Gallery' mounts a themed invitation-only exhibition each summer. Small permanent exhibits can also be viewed in the 'West Wing' annex.
In 2025, the gallery presented the '3.5 Frinks in a Salon' exhibition, which consisted of four works by the celebrated English artist Dame Elisabeth Frink CH DBE RA (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993). The four prints are representative of her four constant themes: the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; the divine in human form, and her abiding fascination with birds of prey.
See 'Videos' tab for more details.
On 5th August 1966, modern pop music began with the release of the Beatles' album 'Revolver', when the world heard 'Tomorrow Never Knows' for the first time. To celebrate this, and the Gallery's fortieth anniversary, our 2026 Summer Exhibition, where the 1760's meets the 1960's, will be 'Pop goes the salon' featuring works, photos, objects, and books by or about Sir Peter Blake; RB Kitaj; David Hockney (RIP); Sir Eduardo Paolozzi; Derek Boshier; Pauline Boty; Joe Tilson; Richard Hamilton; Michael Cooper; Evelyne Askell; and Allen Jones. Also included is the only known copy of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band signed by both the artist and the photographer who created the album cover; plus a special après-Warhol limited edition T-shirt.
This is the world's first AI art exhibition i.e. where all the works were selected by AI (see FAQs).
Free merch will be made available to VVVIPs.
The exhibition was inspired both by the groundbreaking 1961 'Young Contemporaries' exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, where British Pop Art first emerged; and Ken Russell's famous 'Pop goes the Easel' 1962 BBC 'Monitor' documentary, clips of which will be projected on the Gallery walls à la Roundhouse, together with Buñuel's 1964 chef d'oeuvre 'Le journal d'une femme de chambre', and Jean Antoine's 'Dieu est-il pop?' 1964 documentary in the 'Metamorphoses' series on RTBF.
The exhibition was officially open on June 17th (the founding date of the Gallery), by appointment to invited guests only,
between 1500 and 1600 each Friday in July and August.
NB THE GALLERY IS NOT ACCESSIBLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED EXCEPT IN THE WATER GARDEN.
Please read the FAQ tab carefully to avoid disappointment.
Poetry Juke Box
Videos
The Medium Sized Man Speaks
Interview tapes from Images of Power (copyright Brendan Bruce 2026)
Legal stuff
The gallery accepts no responsibility for any modification, loss, or displacement of intellectual positions, critical judgments, or cultural identifications arising in the course of a visit. Exposure to exhibited material may result in the revision of previously held views, the adoption of unfamiliar interpretive frameworks, or a reconfiguration of personal or collective reference points. In certain instances, these effects may extend into significant life decisions, including but not limited to the termination of longstanding personal relationships, the abandonment of established career paths, or the unilateral decision to relocate to remote territories such as Tahiti. By entering the premises, visitors acknowledge and accept the possibility of such outcomes. No liability is assumed for effects of this nature, whether immediate or cumulative.
Contact
- The DOMINIC LAGAN Gallery @ BrendanWorld™
- dominiclagangallery@orange.fr
- BY INVITATION ONLY NO ENTRY FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC
