Design Museum
25 October 2024 – 21 April 2025
The Design Museum reveals that its major exhibition on the exceptional career of director Tim Burton has smashed the museum’s record for advance ticket sales. Over 32,000 people have already snapped up their tickets to The World of Tim Burton exhibition — before its opening on Friday, 25 October — making it the biggest advance ticket sales for an exhibition in the Design Museum’s 35-year history.
The news is announced on the day Tim Burton officially inaugurates the exhibition at the Design Museum ahead of Friday’s public opening. Tim Burton visited the exhibition and posed for photographs, marking the final stop of his personal archive touring the world. It’s the first and only time his archives have been seen in the UK.
Tim Burton at the exhibition. © Design Museum
Tim Marlow, Director and CEO of the Design Museum, said: “We’re obviously delighted that our landmark Tim Burton exhibition has already generated cinematic blockbuster levels of interest and excitement before it has even opened. It’s a real testament to Tim Burton’s impact on the creative world that his exhibition has driven the biggest pre-sales in our history, by quite some way. We can’t wait for everyone to step inside the World of Tim Burton from Friday.”
Tim Burton says: “It’s a strange thing, to put 50 years of art and your life on view for everyone to see, especially when that was never the original purpose. In the past, I have resisted having the exhibition in London, however, collaborating with the Design Museum for this final stop was the right choice. They understand the art, and with the opportunity to adapt the show and highlight the way design interacts with the works, I’ve been able to view it all through an exciting new lens.”
The exhibition will run until 21 April 2025. Due to demand, it will be open late on Friday and Saturday evenings for the rest of 2024. Design Museum members will be able to visit the show for free, without the need to prebook.
Surrounded, 1996 © Tim Burton
Visitors are invited to step into The World of Tim Burton from 25 October, to journey through five remarkable decades of creativity, and to see the famed and fascinating objects from Tim Burton’s earliest unrealized projects to his most recent film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
Over 600 incredible items have been brought together in the exhibition to chart the evolution of Burton’s unique design aesthetic. Objects are loaned from Tim Burton’s extensive personal archives, key film studio archives including Paramount, Amazon MGM Studios, and Warner Bros., and the private collections of Burton’s collaborators. Many items have never been on public display in the UK before.
Highlights include hundreds of Burton’s expressionistic sketches and drawings that he has created prolifically since childhood. These are seen alongside props, set designs, and costumes from his iconic films, including Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costume from 1992’s Batman Returns and the black and white striped dress from 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, worn by Christina Ricci.
The World of Tim Burton — which opens just in time for Halloween — showcases Burton’s remarkable output, with over 18 of his films individually spotlighted in the exhibition. It celebrates the creative processes behind some of the most significant movies of the past five decades, including Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
The exhibition comes to London after a hugely successful decade-long world tour that has seen it visit 14 cities in 11 countries since 2014. Yet not only is this the first and only time it will be seen in the UK, it is also be the very final time the exhibition will be staged.
For this very special homecoming — to Tim Burton’s adopted home city — it has been specially adapted, expanded, and physically reimagined for the Design Museum.
Visitors will for the first time be able to take a deeper look at the director’s work by seeing it through a design lens. With the addition of over 90 new objects to the exhibition, this iteration of the show examines Burton’s hands-on and design-led approach to filmmaking.
A major new aspect is also the spotlighting of his long-term collaborations with designers working across costume, set and production design. This includes the renowned costume designer Colleen Atwood, production designer Rick Heinrichs, architect and designer Anton Furst, and the award-winning puppet makers and stop-motion animators Mackinnon and Saunders.
The exhibition’s narrative has also been fully reimagined for the Design Museum.
Installation shot of the exhibition. Rob Harris for the Design Museum. © Design Museum
Visitors will begin in ‘Suburban Beginnings’, charting Burton’s early artistic endeavours, his studies at college, and his time working as an apprentice animator at Disney. Visitors will then move from the Hollywood suburb to the Hollywood Studio and into ‘Crafting Imagination’, exploring his immense contributions to stop-motion animation and those themes which have influenced his work, like festive holidays and the ‘Carnivalesque’.
‘Building Worlds’ celebrates thirteen key feature films and the television series Wednesday through the lens of design, while the section ‘Drawing Narratives’ displays a volume of artwork that illustrate Burton’s prolific output as an artist and visual storyteller.
Finally, ‘Beyond Film’ moves from the world of Tim Burton to the universe, exploring projects he has produced outside of cinema, like books and music videos, and designers who have been inspired by the Burtonesque, such as photographer Tim Walker.
The exhibition immerses visitors into specific landscapes reminiscent of his filmography — from the suburbs to angular corridors and film soundstages –– all accompanied by a custom soundscape created especially for the Design Museum by sound designer Tomi Rose.
Installation shot of the exhibition. Rob Harris for the Design Museum. © Design Museum
Exhibition highlights
At the exhibition’s core are hundreds of Tim Burton’s expressionistic sketches and drawings that he has prolifically produced since childhood. These works depict everything from individual characters to whole environments and are always the first step in Burton’s creative process to build the fantastical worlds in each of his films.
Visitors will see some of the earliest incarnations of much-loved and recognised characters such as the Martians from Mars Attacks! (1996), the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland (2010), Emily in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005), and many other famous eye-catching figures. Nearly all of these drawings are making their first ever public display in the UK.
The original artworks can be seen directly alongside costumes, props, and set pieces from the movies they ultimately featured in, charting the journey characters and worlds have taken from Burton’s imagination to cinematic reality. This includes Colleen Atwood’s instantly-recognisable costume for Edward Scissorhands — as worn by actor Johnny Depp in the 1990 film — which is seen with Bo Welch’s set design models for the movie, Stan Winston’s infamous scissor hands, and seven of Burton’s earliest sketches of the character.
Another iconic costume added to the exhibition for the first time for this final London staging is Catwoman’s rubber and latex suit from 1992’s Batman Returns, featuring the stitched motif that Burton repeatedly returns to throughout his works.
There is also the first ever public display of the Rave’N dance dress worn by actor Jenna Ortega in character as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series produced by MGM Television which debuted in 2022. The school uniform for the series, designed by Atwood, is also shown, paired alongside Burton’s original character concept drawings.
Visitors will additionally be able to see a recreation of the private studio where Tim Burton works, giving a rare private glimpse into his creative process. The walls of this installation are lined with illustrations from recent projects, including designs for a 65m high mural depicting an epic battle between a robot and a monster that was installed in São Paulo, Brazil.
The exhibition’s finale is a brand new specially created cinema experience. A major newly-commissioned film gives voice to some of Burton’s key collaborators, and will be shown in a bespoke art-deco space reminiscent of the theatres Tim Burton would frequent as a child growing up in Hollywood.
Maria McLintock, curator of The World of Tim Burton at the Design Museum, says: “For Tim Burton, each film begins with a drawing, that he often returns to over time, almost like old friends. We’re thrilled to be displaying so many of these deeply personal works at the Design Museum, in the heart of the city he’s called home for over twenty years. This hugely successful show has delighted audiences across the globe for over a decade, but our Design Museum reimagining, with many new additions and new narratives, means this is an unprecedented opportunity to be immersed in Tim Burton’s unique and singular vision.”
蒂姆·伯頓的世界
倫敦設計博物館
2024年10月25日 – 2025年4月21日
倫敦設計博物館宣布其大型展覽《蒂姆·伯頓的世界》創下了博物館的預售票銷售記錄。在10月25日星期五正式開幕前，已經有超過32,000張門票被搶購一空，這使得此次展覽成為設計博物館35年歷史中預售票銷售最多的一次。
這則消息是在蒂姆·伯頓正式為展覽揭幕的同一天宣布的，伯頓本人也親自出席了揭幕並在展覽現場進行了合照，這是他全球巡展的最後一站，並且是首次、也是唯一一次在英國展出。
設計博物館的總監兼首席執行官蒂姆·馬洛表示：「我們對蒂姆·伯頓的展覽在未開幕前就能引起如此巨大的關注和興奮感到非常高興。這證明了蒂姆·伯頓對創意世界的巨大影響，他的展覽創造了我們歷史上最高的預售票紀錄。我們迫不及待想讓大家從週五開始進入《蒂姆·伯頓的世界》。」
蒂姆·伯頓表示：「把50年的作品和生活展示給大家看是一種很奇妙的感覺，因為展現這些文檔並不是創作的最初目的。在過去，我曾對在倫敦舉辦展覽感到猶豫不決，但與設計博物館合作並把這裡作為巡展的最後一站，這是正確的選擇。他們理解這些作品，並為展覽進行特別的改編，強調設計與這些作品之間的互動，這讓我能夠通過一個全新的視角來審視這些作品。」
該展覽將持續到2025年4月21日。因應熱烈需求，展覽將在2024年的週五和週六晚上延長開放時間，以便更多觀者有機會參觀。設計博物館的會員可以免費參觀展覽，且無需提前預訂。
自10月25日起，觀者將能踏入《蒂姆·伯頓的世界》，親身體驗蒂姆·伯頓五十年創作歷程中的重要作品，並且涵蓋了從他早期未實現的構想到最近的電影項目《甲殼蟲汁甲殼蟲汁》（2024），展示伯頓豐富且多樣的創意世界。
展覽集結了超過600件令人驚嘆的展品，以展示伯頓獨特設計美學的演變過程。這些展品來自於蒂姆·伯頓豐富的個人手稿和作品，還有一些來自主要電影製片公司的檔案，包括派拉蒙影業、亞馬遜米高梅影業和華納兄弟，以及伯頓合作夥伴的私人收藏。其中許多展品都是首次在英國公開展示。
展覽的亮點之一是伯頓自童年以來創作的數百幅表現主義風格的素描和繪畫，這些作品顯示了他自幼年起就開始的豐富創作歷程。這些作品與他經典電影中的道具、布景設計以及服裝一同展示，包括米歇爾·菲佛在1992年《蝙蝠俠歸來》中穿著的貓女服裝，以及克里斯蒂娜·裘莉在1999年《沉睡谷》中穿著的黑白條紋連衣裙。
《蒂姆·伯頓的世界》適逢萬聖節前夕開幕，展示了伯頓非凡的創作成果，展覽中特別突出展示了他超過18部家喻戶曉的電影作品。這些作品包括《甲殼蟲汁》（1988）、《蝙蝠俠》（1989）、《剪刀手愛德華》（1990）和《查理與巧克力工廠》（2005），旨在慶祝過去五十年間一些最具代表性的電影背後的創作過程。
這個展覽在經過為期十年的全球巡展後來到倫敦，自2014年以來，它已在11個國家的14個城市巡展。這不僅是它首次也是唯一一次在英國展出，同時也將是這次巡展的最終展出。
為了這次特別的回歸展覽——來到蒂姆·伯頓的第二故鄉倫敦——展覽進行了特別的改編、擴展，並且在設計博物館內進行了全新的實體呈現設計。
觀眾將首次能夠從設計的角度更深入地了解蒂姆·伯頓的作品。這次展覽新增了超過90件新展品，使得這次展示更加深入探討了伯頓在電影製作中親自參與並以設計為主導的創作方式。
展覽的一個重要新元素是聚焦蒂姆·伯頓與多位設計師之間長期合作的成果，這些合作涵蓋服裝設計、布景設計和製作設計。參與這些合作的包括著名的服裝設計師柯琳·阿特伍德，布景設計師里克·海因里希斯，建築師兼設計師安東·弗斯特，以及獲獎的木偶製作師和定格動畫師馬金農與桑德斯。
這次展覽的敘述方式也專門為設計博物館進行了全新構思和重新設計。
展覽之旅將從「郊區的起點」開始，回顧蒂姆·伯頓早期的藝術創作，包括他在學院的學習經歷和在迪士尼作為學徒動畫師的工作。展覽的第二部分，觀者將從好萊塢的郊區來到好萊塢的製片廠，進入「創意之旅」環節，探索伯頓對定格動畫的巨大貢獻，以及影響他作品的主題，比如節日和「狂歡主題」這些經常出現的元素。
「構建世界」部分展示了十三部重要的長片和電視劇《Wednesday》，以設計的視角進行呈現，而「繪製敘事」部分則展示了大量藝術作品，體現了伯頓作為藝術家和視覺敘述者的豐富創作成果。
最後，「超越電影」部分讓觀者從蒂姆·伯頓的電影世界進入到更廣闊的創作宇宙中，探索他在電影之外的項目，比如書籍和音樂錄影帶，還有受到「伯頓風格」影響的設計師們，如攝影師蒂姆·沃克。
展覽將觀者帶入特定的場景，這些場景讓人聯想到蒂姆·伯頓的電影作品——從郊區到棱角分明的走廊和電影拍攝的音效棚——所有這些都伴隨著聲音設計師托米·羅斯特為設計博物館特別創作的定製音效。
展覽亮點
展覽的核心是蒂姆·伯頓自童年以來創作的數百幅表現主義風格的素描和繪畫。這些作品描繪了從個別角色到整個環境的各種內容，並且始終是伯頓創建每部電影中的奇幻世界的第一步。
觀者將能看到一些備受喜愛和廣為人知的角色的早期形象，比如1996年《火星人玩轉地球！》中的火星人、2010年《愛麗絲夢遊仙境》中的瘋帽子先生，以及2005年《僵屍新娘》中的艾米莉，還有許多其他引人注目的知名角色。這些繪畫中的大部分都是首次在英國公開展示。
這些原創藝術作品與電影中的服裝、道具和布景一同展出，展示了這些角色和世界從伯頓的想像走向影視現實的過程。例如，展品包括由柯琳·阿特伍德設計的《剪刀手愛德華》中標誌性的服裝（由約翰尼·德普在1990年電影中穿著）、Bo Welch設計的布景模型、斯坦·溫斯頓設計的剪刀手道具，以及伯頓最早的七幅角色草圖。
這次展覽還增加了一些首次公開亮相的標誌性服裝，其中包括貓女的橡膠和乳膠套裝，這套服裝來自1992年的《蝙蝠俠歸來》，其縫製元素在伯頓的多部作品中反覆出現。
此外，該展覽還首次公開展示的了Rave’N舞會禮服，這是由珍娜·奧爾特加在Netflix劇集《Wednesday》中飾演的「Wednesday Addams」角色所穿的服裝。該劇集由MGM電視製作，於2022年首播。此次展覽中還展示了該劇的校服，這些服裝同樣是由阿特伍德設計，並與伯頓的原創角色概念草圖一同呈現。
觀者還能看到蒂姆·伯頓私人工作室的復刻版，這讓大家得以一窺他的創作過程。這個展區的牆壁上掛滿了最近項目的插圖，其中包括為巴西聖保羅創作的一幅高達65米的壁畫設計，描繪了一場機器人與怪物之間的史詩級戰鬥。
展覽的結尾是一個全新創作的電影體驗。這部由全新委託製作的大型影片講述了伯頓一些重要合作夥伴的故事，將在一個專門設計的裝飾藝術風格空間內播放，這個空間讓人聯想到伯頓在好萊塢成長時經常光顧的老式劇院。
設計博物館「蒂姆·伯頓的世界」的策展人瑪麗亞·麥克林托克表示：「對於蒂姆·伯頓來說，每一部電影的起點都是一幅畫，他經常會隨著時間的推移反覆回看這些畫作，就像老朋友一樣。我們很高興能在設計博物館——他稱之為『家』超過二十年的城市中心——展示這麼多深具個人色彩的作品。這個已經在全球範圍內吸引觀眾超過十年的成功展覽，經過我們設計博物館的重新構思，增添了許多新內容和新敘述，讓這次展覽成為一次前所未有的沉浸於蒂姆·伯頓獨特視覺世界的機會。」
