A major exhibition exploring how ideas rooted in horror have informed the last 50 years of British creativity. The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain is coming to arts centre Somerset House on October 27 and will run until February 19 2023.
The show, in London, aims to look beyond horror as a genre, instead taking it as a reaction and provocation in troubling times. Featuring over 200 artworks and culturally significant objects, the show tells a story of turbulence, unease and creative revolution at the heart of the British cultural psyche over three acts – Monster, Ghost and Witch.
It has been expertly co-curated by BAFTA-nominated filmmakers Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard and Somerset House’s Senior Curator Claire Catterall.
Monster
Opening The Horror Show!, Monster begins by delving into the economic and political turbulence of the 1970s and social division of the 1980s. Against a backdrop of unrest and loud uprising, it charts the origin story of the individuals who will go on to disrupt, define and "destroy" British culture, while exploring the monsters which plague society today.
Work is featured from many punk and sub-culture icons including artists such as punk prophet Jamie Reid, N oel Fielding, Marc Almond, Bauhaus, Leigh Bowery, Don Letts, Poly Styrene, Chila Burman, Pam Hogg and many more.
Ghost
The show’s second act, Ghost, tells the tale of the collapse of hyperinflated 80s culture into an uncanny temperature change that presided over the 1990s and early 2000s. It traces an unsettling path through to the global financial crisis of 2008.
This exhibition sees this as a a turning point between a century of old and new, beginning the dawn of a digital age with faceless audiences and invisible cyber wars. Artists include A Guy Called Gerald, Barry Adamson, Hamad Butt, Adam Chodzko, Kevin Cummins, Graham Dolphin, Tim Etchells, Angus Fairhurst, Paul Finnegan, Laura Grace Ford, Ghostwatch and many more.
Witch
The third and final act, focuses on a Britain spanning from the 2008 financial crash until present day. It aims to celebrate the emergence of a younger generation as hyper-connected community, referring to them as a "global coven" grounded in integration and equality.
Artists include Linda, Xadie Xa, Tyreis Holder, Col Self, Laura Grace Ford, Linda Stupart & Carl Gent, Tai Shani, Gazelle Twin and many more.
Monster, Ghost and Witch culminate in immersive installations, combining newly commissioned work, large-scale sculpture, fashion and sound installation, with each chapter signed off with a neon text-work by Tim Etchells.
An atmospheric soundtrack encapsulates the spirit of each time provided by Bauhaus, Barry Adamson and Mica Levi. There will also be an accompanying programme of talks and events, full details of which are to be announced soon at the Somerset House website.
