Throw on your best Salvador Dali moustache and get ready for some intellectual stimulation. Tonight the Georgia Fine Arts Academy will host Café Apollinaire, a celebration of the surrealism movement that will transform Cinento an early twentieth century Parisian café. Cafe Apollinaire will also feature a contest for the best surrealist costume of the night.

Bill Bray, founder and president of GFAA, hopes the event will recreate the feeling of surrealist Paris, the hotbed of intellectual thought during the early 20th-century.

The surrealist movement emerged almost a century ago as a result of World War I. Surrealist art and literature is noted for its juxtaposition of contradicting ideas; the representation of the subconscious and fantastical imagery that Bray finds fascinating.

“It’s one of the most creative and dynamic periods of art,” Bray said.

Bray believes in bringing all the arts together, encouraging creativity across the board.

“Picasso met with poets at the cafes in the morning to discuss art, politics, [and]events, and then he painted in the afternoon,” Bray said. “The exchange of ideas stimulates art.”

Bray moved to Athens last year and noticed the creative energy immediately.

“Even the sports commentators have been referring to Athens as ‘the Liverpool of the South.’ This place really is a sort of vortex of creative ideas,” Bray said.

The first Café Apollinaire was on Sept. 22 – that’s when the costume party was suggested.

“Dress up as your favorite surrealist – Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Man Ray – and we’re giving out prizes for the best costume,” Bray said.

According to Bray, many English faculty and students attended the event last time, but Bray hopes art students and others will also come out tonight.

“Some of the speakers are their professors, so it’s perfect for some of the art students,” he said.

The event will feature readings by local writers, along with special presentations by Nell Andrew, an assistant professor of modern art at UGA and a premiere Patrick of William’s film, “The Art of Bart Lynch.” Refreshments will be provided by Mama’s Boy.