museums – Paper Places

If ever an exhibition at a museum whetted the appetite to see a film, then this new show at the Design Museum in Kensington definitely does. I did not know what to expect when climbing the stairs to the second floor of the museum but, I promise you, there is a treat in store.

The new stop-motion, animated film, Wildwood, will be released in the UK next week. And I can’t wait to see it. I’m sure I’ll be swept away by the story and the amazing visual effects but now, because I’ve been to this exhibition at the Design Museum, I’ll understand a little of the incredible amount of hard work and detailed planning which went into the creation of the film.

Looking at these pictures you don’t really get a sense of the scale but I can tell you, the objects are tiny! Each little prop has been carefully crafted from a huge variety of materials. The film, well, what I’ve seen of it in the clips, has a naturalistic yet stylised feel. You have the idea you are stepping into a real world but it is magical, where everything is heightned and filled with fantastical creatures.

The sets are very intricate and filled with carefully made details such as ivy leaves of all sizes, plants at different stages of decay and bark painted with many different colours.

Amazing to see the inner workings of ‘characters’ such as the horse and you can see the engineering ‘skeleton’ which operates the puppet.

Some close-ups of the characters – and, centre, another display showing the mechanics and body of the puppet.

The details you can see in each interior are amazing. Every tiny prop was crafted and painted to create that feeling of antiquity and usage. Well, as you can gather, I was impressed by this exhibition and delighted to see the work close up. Now I want to see the film!

LAIKA presents WILDWOOD: The Exhibition at the Design Museum runs until 10th January 2027.

Visiting the Sir John Soane’s Museum is always a pleasure. It’s a treasure-trove of cultural history which is open to the public, free, from Wednesdays to Sundays, and well worth a trip. Every now and then the museum collaborates with a contemporary artist. This year Lina Iris Victor, a Liberian/British multidisciplinary artist who lives and works between Italy and the UK, has taken on the challenge of creating works which reflect and complement the collection. Her African heritage really comes through in these pieces. She combines all manner of materials, most fascinatingly, she uses empty silkworm cases, fragments of woven fabric and weaves them in amonsgt acrylic forms gilded with gold.

Many of the works are on paper – sturdy paper, because these pieces are heavy – and there’s an impressive gutsy-ness to the pieces.

I was really taken by the large scale colourful work which combined gold with red on paper. Red Ornamental (series of four works) mixed media on paper.

I liked the array of portraits too which combine the gold element with strongly pigmented paint and drawing on paper.

It’s very interesting to see such original art in such a spectacular setting. The amalgam of contemporary and ancient really blends well. Down in the crypt are two ‘Ritual Thrones’ and an extraordinary sculpture entitled Nbiru which goes rather well with the Greek and Roman statues collected by Soane.

The exhibition opens on 10th July and will be there until 19th January 2025. Free

Tag: museums

I urge everyone to go to the Design Museum in Kensington to see the astonishing exhibition of sets, figures and props created by LAIKA design studio for the new film Wildwood. Such a treat to go behind the scenes, see how each tiny piece was made and then animated for this new stop-motion film.