In Tim Burton’s film Ed Wood, the gloriously talentless titular director of Plan 9 from Outer Space meets Orson Welles, his polar opposite in ability. Welles was the ultimate “auteur”, a film-maker who imposed a singular vision through all his productions. Is Burton too an auteur, as the Design Museum’s director has it, and as this efficiently kooky show takes for granted? If he is, then he has by now turned the gothic into a brand, projecting such a sharply stylised, recognisable version of homely horror that he can imprint it on almost any material and deliver the outlandish as bankable.
This exhibition is a world touring event originally devised by Burton’s “in-house curatorial team” that is making its final stop at the Design Museum in London. That accounts for the easily packed-up look of it all. It also accounts for its soft-centred, PR feel. It doesn’t ask tough questions, such as how Burton works with technical crews and actors; or, more painfully, why his later output has been so uneven.
