SET TO STUN
“It’s only when you step through the door on the left of the reception desk that you find yourself suddenly, amazingly, on the set of Doctor Who, complete with a red-eyed Voc robot (from 1977’s The Robots of Death), surrounded by liberal misty bursts from a hidden dry-ice machine. Where are all the gilded chairs and paintings of people called William? Have you made a mistake? No. You -lucky thing- are in the first dazzling gallery of Gunnersbury’s Set to Stun exhibit, focusing on the many strong links between west London and UK sci-fi, and you are in for an enormous treat.” – Jamie Lenman, Doctor Who Magazine 2024
Set to Stun: Designing and filming sci-fi in West London (October 2023 – June 2024) looked at science fiction through the lens of local history. West London has been the hub of the UK’s film industry for a century. Big film studios like Ealing, Shepperton and Pinewood have drawn prop-makers, prosthetic artists, set-makers, costume designers, and more recently digital effects and motion capture specialists. Set to Stun turned the spotlight these unsung stars, focusing on how their artistry created the look and feel of sci-fi classics including Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Star Wars.
I only had eight months to realise the exhibition, but it was a lot of fun. The venue was the ex-stately home Gunnersbury Park Museum and the kitsch of classic sci-fi made a nice contrast with the building’s baroque opulence.
Perhaps the most popular exhibit was a space station filmset specially designed for the show by Jeremy Bear. The set was inspired by work Jeremy had done in the 1970s for Doctor Who. I added a hidden smoke machine which let forth a powerful blast through a vent in the space station’s wall. Operated by remote control from the front desk, it was a great jump scare for visitors!
Elsewhere I commissioned an interactive which used smart phone facial recognition technology to demonstrate how motion capture works. The interactive allowed visitors to manipulate the faces of characters in a video by distorting their own faces. It was a nice leveller, with grandparents and grandchildren alike hooting with delight when they stuck their tongues out and saw the sci-fi character on the screen do the same.
I was keen that the exhibition have a strong offer for blind and partially sighted visitors. Part of my approach was to 3D print three key exhibits: an over the top ‘F.O.A.D.’* gun used in Red Dwarf, a mini-Tardis used in Doctor Who, and a prosthetic alien head. In each case I recorded the artisan who had made the original describing the process, what it smelt like, how long it took, what elements they were happy with etc… As they spoke, they handled the prop, explaining what the different shapes and textures of it were. The recording meant that visitors could explore the 3D print of the prop by touch whilst listing to the artisan’s account.
It was hoped that the exhibition would increase visitor numbers. In this it was successful: over the eight months of its run Set to Stun boosted overall Museum visits by nearly 40%. That I was able to curate such a successful exhibition was in large part due to the skill and dedication of my team, including colleagues Dmitry Indenbaum, Oliver Walton and Ishwari Giga as well as the skill, good will and support of project partners Mike Tucker and Alex Marker. I should also thank Work Form who did a fantastic job on the graphic design.
*F*ck Off And Die
