V&A Museum of Childhood, Front Room exhibitions 2007-2019
THE TALES WE TELL- INDIAN WARLI PAINTING
Sep 2015 -Jan 2016
Drawing on a store of tribal memory, myths and everyday life, Warli art has evolved from restricted ritual drawings into an applied art in the process of transition. The V&A Museum of Childhood's exhibition focusses on the innovative style of Jivya Soma Mashe, who opened up the traditions of Warli to a new iconography, and his follower Ramesh Hengadi, who has developed his own distinctive style in response to the changes in community life, shift in local markets and global economies. The exhibition also features an installation created through a pictorial exchange between pupils at Redlands Primary School, Tower Hamlets and a village school in Dahanu, Thane. The children use the accessible narrative language of Warli to tell each other stories about their respective lives.
SHOW LESS
IT’S MY PARTY…
20 Sep 2014 — 5 Jul 2015
It’s My Party… takes a look at children’s birthday parties from the perspective of both children and parents. The centrepiece is a life-sized installation telling the story of Wilfred, a shy resident of the Museum. Wilfred doesn’t want to celebrate his birthday, but regrets his decision when he finds himself all alone on the day with a solitary cupcake. The story has a happy ending, as Wilfred’s friends organise a surprise party, with a lavish feast and gifts that money can’t buy. The exhibition opens at the V&A Museum of Childhood on 20 September and runs until 5 July 2015.
We all have birthdays, but how we mark the passing years is very personal. Some do not acknowledge them, or choose to share them with a few friends or family, while others throw enormous parties. It’s My Party… explores different views of birthday parties, and asks whether the biggest, most expensive parties are always the best. Using interviews with children and their parents and carers about their own birthday experiences, the exhibition offers ideas for alternative birthday celebrations, both for party animals and for those who prefer to avoid the limelight.
The Wilfred’s Party installation includes a table groaning with party food made by children at Rushmore Primary School, Hackney, and St John’s Primary School, Tower Hamlets, in artist-led sessions. The party guests have been created by invited artists based on interpretations of their favourite characters in the Museum’s collections. Becky Baur, Teresa Hare Duke, Jasleen Kaur, Oat Montien, Katherine Tulloh, Ruth Weinberg, Cathy Wren and others have contributed to the scene. Children, parents and carers from Rushmore Primary School, Hackney and St John’s Primary School, Tower Hamlets, and adults from Tower Hamlets College have all contributed their ideas to the display.
THE MAKING OF DREAM ON: COMBINING ARTISTS’ WORK WITH CO-PRODUCED WORK BY CHILDREN
V & A MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD
10 Feb 2018- 20 Jan 2019
Dream On is an exploration of dreams, the unconscious and an imaginary world between sleep and wakefulness. The exhibition plays with the notion that objects come to life when we are not looking, much like our dreams when we fall asleep. The different elements tell an interwoven story of how the inanimate can become animated, and reveals the uncanny visual power of our dreams.
PLAYING WITH BUILDINGS
V & A MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD
22 Mar 2019 – 20 Mar 2020
As our plans for redevelopment of the Museum of Childhood progress, architecture, buildings, and playful design have become central to our thinking. Tapping into this current interest we approached the University of East London’s Architecture Department in early 2018 with a proposal for a collaborative project: to create an exhibition of large scale, playful design interventions in the Front Room Gallery.
SEARCHING FOR GHOSTS
11 Feb 2017 - 21 Jan 2018
Haunting and intimate domestic scenes go on display at the V&A Museum of Childhood in a series of photographic works, a community visual arts project and a large-scale sculptural model of a tower block by artist Tom Hunter, artist James Mackinnon and photographer Mike Seabourne. Searching For Ghosts presents a glimpse into social housing in east London. From the demolished tower block on the Holly Street Estate and regeneration of Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, to the imposing red brick of the first municipal housing estate; Boundary Estate in Tower Hamlets built in 1898. Working with local residents and the Museum, Hunter has undertaken an exploration of home in East London. The Searching for Ghosts project has brought together children who live on the Boundary estate today with local residents who have lived in the area for up to 95 years in an intergenerational project to share stories.
DREAM ON
10 Feb 2018- 20 Jan 2019
This installation of ceramic dolls and toys, accompanied by the large-scale photographic frieze, Baby House Dream, forms part of a three-way project at the V&A Museum of Childhood entitled Dream On. Curated by Community Development Officer, Teresa Hare Duke as part of the Museum’s regular demonstration of the work of their Community Programme, Dream On explores the power of dreams and the imagination through a range of mixed media artworks. In Ludus Est the two key characters, Caroline and Godfrey, take a journey around the museum after dark to encounter a range of other dolls and toys. Working with the notion that objects come alive after we leave the museum, much like our dreams when we fall asleep, they meet dolls from faraway places, spend some time at school and on the farm and receive some colourful birthday presents. Baby House Dream is composed of dolls houses from the Museum’s collection. In the dream world, the house can be seen as a symbol of the self and in this street of houses dating from the 17th century to the present day, various imaginary characters from my sculpture archive can be seen at the windows.
THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES
2 Jan 2011-26 Mar 2012
An exhibition exploring the darker side of traditional fairytales. In an installation created with the help of local school children and based on the Brothers Grimm tale 'Fundevogel', the gallery is transformed into a forest in which sculptures by Jemima Brown, paintings by Ruth Weinburg and canvases inspired by objects in the collection, created by Core Arts, are displayed. There's also a 'police line-up' of suspicious- and gruesome-looking toys.
ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?
AN EXPLORATION OF DESIGN AT THE CHALKFACE
September 2013-June 2014
Are You Sitting Comfortably? Is an exhibition exploring some of the effects of environment and design on teaching and learning from the formality of the Victorian classroom to the outdoors self-directed learning of a wood school.
How much does the context in which we learn affect how we learn? It is taken for granted that the built environment impacts on people in buildings and yet many of the classrooms that children are taught in are not very conducive to a positive learning experience.The apparent correlation between an effective learning environment and attainment suggests that good design has the potential to have an extremely beneficial effect on the way that children learn.
In collaboration with Cazenove Architects, specialists in educational design, the Museum has worked with pupils form Gayhurst Primary and Clapton Girls Academy, Hackney, to develop furniture design solutions. Architecture students from the University of East London have designed a classroom structure for the Paupers Wood School, Manchester. A choir from St Paul’s Way Trust School, Tower Hamlets have developed a calming acoustic installation with musicians Jason Singh and Laura Howe.