Private Eden is a multi-media installation inspired by the life and work of Edward James (1917–1984), an eccentric British collector and philanthropist of many artists from the surrealist movement and a self-described “surrealist by birth”. In 1947, while living in semiexile, James acquired a coffee plantation in a subtropical rainforest in the mountains of Mexico and transformed it into Las Pozas: a home for exotic animals with thousands of orchids, waterfalls, pools and concrete structures spreading out over more than 40 ha of lush tropical jungle. Intrigued by Edward James’ surrealist Xanadu, the artists explore the desire to escape reality into a constructed paradise.