Running until the end of 2021, at London’s V&A Museum, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser is an immersive and theatrical show charting the evolution of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from manuscript to a global phenomenon beloved by all ages.
Through over 300 objects, across five Alice-inspired worlds arranged thematically – spanning film, performance, fashion, art, music and photography – the V&A is the first museum to fully explore the cultural impact of Alice in Wonderland and its ongoing inspiration for leading creatives, from Salvador Dalí and Yayoi Kusama, to The Beatles, Vivienne Westwood and Little Simz.
Highlights of the show, which opened in May, include author Lewis Carroll’s handwritten manuscript, Alice’s Adventures Underground, illustrations by John Tenniel, Ralph Steadman and Mary Blair for Walt Disney’s iconic 1951 film adaptation, to Royal Opera House stage costumes, fashion from Iris van Herpen and photography from Tim Walker.
Featuring theatrical sets, immersive environments, and a special experience in Virtual Reality within the exhibition, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser takes both children and adults on a journey through the enchanting and extraordinary world of Wonderland, through Alice’s eyes.
Designed by award-winning designer Tom Piper – best known for his stage designs for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the V&A as well as his Tower of London poppies installation – the exhibition rewards ‘curiouser and curiouser’ visitors with secret spaces and playful displays and an invitation to join a mind-bending game of croquet in VR.
Beginning with a magical descent into the V&A’s subterranean Sainsbury Gallery, the exhibition immediately transports visitors into an otherworldly experience.
The exhibition’s first section, Creating Alice, traces Alice in Wonderland’s origins in Victorian Oxford. Uncovering the people, the politics and the places that inspired Lewis Carroll, the exhibition will introduce visitors to the ‘real’ Alice and her family.
Shining a spotlight on creative partnership between Carroll and John Tenniel, the exhibition brings their original drawings together as well as their inspirations, including ‘The Ugly Duchess’ portrait by Quinten Massys (1513), which informed the illustrations of the Duchess in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Filming Alice charts the creative development of Alice on screen throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, starting with the earliest film based on the books in 1903.
Displaying film clips, designs, animation cels, scripts and costumes, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser provided a comprehensive look at the life of Alice on film from surrealist visions to family favourites. Set against a giant caterpillar, the concept art from Walt Disney’s seminal Alice in Wonderland film in 1951 take centre stage, alongside Tim Burton’s 2010 blockbuster adaptation.
Revealing Christian Dior’s 1947 collection, best known for its distinctive silhouettes as the inspiration for Mary Blair’s recreation of Alice, to Tim Burton and Colleen Atwood’s recreation of 1860s inspired-costumes in honour of the decade in which the story was first published, visitors will uncover lesser-known details behind iconic reinterpretations of this beloved tale. Alongside, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser will explore the creative partnership between Tim Burton and his long-time collaborator and Oscar-winning costume designer, Colleen Atwood – examining their distinctive visual style and characters that honoured Tenniel’s illustrations whilst taking inspiration from a variety of eclectic sources.
Drawing on 1960s surrealism and psychedelia, Reimagining Alice celebrates reinventions of Wonderland through works by Salvador Dalí, Yayoi Kusama, Max Ernst and Peter Blake as well as the 1966 BBC film directed by the late Sir Jonathan Miller.
A weird and wonderful visual experience takes place at a life-sized Mad Hatter’s tea party, brought to life through psychedelic and playful digital projections.
Staging Alice explores how the books have naturally found a home within dance, music and performance. Bringing past performances to life; concept designs, set models, props and costumes will be on display allowing visitors to see, closer than ever before, the most iconic depictions of this story on stage. Costumes and designs from international productions in Switzerland, Copenhagen and Russia feature alongside the National Theatre’s wonder.land, which explored the boundaries of virtual and physical, as well as Bob Crowley’s towering costume for the Queen of Hearts from the Royal Ballet’s 2011 production.
Visitors see also invited to descend a further rabbit hole in Virtual Reality, entering a hall of doors, before emerging into the Queen of Hearts’ croquet ground to pit their wits in ‘A Curious Game of Croquet’.
Marking the first V&A exhibition ever to offer a Virtual Reality experience, it is the result of an innovative partnership between the V&A and HTC VIVE Arts, produced by immersive games studio Preloaded. The visuals are based on new artworks created by Icelandic artist Kristjana S. Williams, commissioned for the V&A’s exhibition publication.
From Tim Walker to Thom Browne, to Japanese subculture and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the final section Being Alice, explores the modern-day fascination and reinvention of Alice in Wonderland across art, science and popular culture.
Featuring fashion collections from Iris van Herpen and Viktor & Rolf, photographs of political protests, album-artwork for Little Simz, and Alice inspired street-style garments, this section will demonstrate the varied interpretations and personal importance that the themes within this century-old story still hold today. Tim Walker’s celebrated 2018 Pirelli Calendar recreating Wonderland with an all-black cast including RuPaul, Naomi Campbell, P Diddy and Adwoa Aboah, styled by Edward Enninful will prominently feature.
The exhibition closes with a ‘through the looking glass-inspired’ digital art installation. After a journey down the rabbit hole and through Wonderland, visitors are invited to leave through the looking glass.
With 2021 marking the book’s 150th anniversary, the V&A hopes to inspire visitors to conjure ideas of their own Wonderland. Since the publication of the original manuscript of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, the books have never been out of print and remain one of the most influential texts in the world.
One of the most ambitious exhibitions ever staged by the V&A, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser provides a fun-filled and illuminating visit to Wonderland for visitors of all ages.
• Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser runs until 31st December 2021 in the Sainsbury Gallery at the V&A London | Exhibition Information
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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