November 3, 2022 |
Halloween might be done and dusted off but the horrors of the holiday are far from finished. Prolonged by Somerset House, The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain, is the major exhibition keeping things creepy for the next four months. Open until February 19, 2023, over 200 artworks and objects will be on display in three spine-chilling acts: Monster, Ghost and Witch. Through the supernatural lens of the respective horror archetypes, each act explores how ideas rooted in horror have informed creative rebellion in Britain for the last 50 years.
The architects at Sam Jacob Studio and Grammy-winning creative studio Barnbrook created the signature design of the three acts, which culminate in subversive immersive installations. By combining newly commissioned work, large-scale sculpture, fashion and sound installation, the show serves as a deep-dive into the counter-cultural, mystic movements which have infiltrated British life.
Just as an atmospheric soundtrack descends upon the dimly-lit space – provided by Bauhaus, Barry Adamson and Mica Levi – Monster begins. It charts the origin story and ascent of those in the 1970s and ’80s who would eventually go on to disrupt, define and destroy British culture, while simultaneously bidding to understand the monsters which plague society today.
Ghost marks the collapse of hyperinflated 1980s culture through to the global financial crisis of 2008, tracing the turning point in time between a century of old and one of new and the dawn of the digital age.
Within Witch, the emergence of a younger generation grounded in integration and equality and their hyper-connected community is mapped into the present.
The show looks beyond horror as a genre, instead taking it as a reaction and provocation to our most troubling times. Telling of the turbulence, unease and creative revolution that lays at the heart of the British cultural psyche, The Horror Show! is haunting in more ways than one. It reveals to us how the anarchic alchemy of horror can help us to make sense of the world around us and the unrest that has subsisted for decades. From the disruption of 1970s punk factions to the revolutionary potential of new-age witchcraft and energy manipulation, it’s a heady ride through the gaudy, grotesque, gore and occult of pop culture – buckle up!
Told through the visual interpretations of some of the UK’s most provocative artists, the last 50 years of modern British history are recast as a story of cultural shapeshifting. Featuring the astonishing works of Gareth Pugh, Pam Hogg, Jamie Reid, Marc Almond, Derek Ridgers, Ray Stevenson, Ben Wheatley and a whole bevvy more, The Horror Show! Is co-curated by BAFTA nominated filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard alongside Somerset House’s senior curator, Claire Catterall.
The exhibition has an accompanying programme of talks and events as well as a special exhibition shop edited by Faye Dowling’s alternative art store GothShop.co. With clothing, accessories, limited-edition prints, books, zines and a one-of-a-kind collectible exhibition catalogue, you can bring the horror home.
Photography courtesy of Somerset House. ‘The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain’ is open until February 19, 2023.
