Ahead of its time – ‘The Museum of…’ was a series of five temporary museums in The Bargehouse on London’s South Bank.

– The Museum of Collectors
– Me
– Emotions
– The Unknown
– The River Thames

Each temporary pop-up questioned the role of museums and made visitors a key part of the exhibitions themselves. Thomas.Matthews worked with the curation team from the inception and developed concepts that ran over the course of 2 years. The Museum was housed in a dilapidated old building filled with graffiti and crumbling walls. New quotations and signs wove together with the existing graphic surfaces of the building.

We designed assets for the duration of the project, including invites, advertising, signage and various installations and exhibitions. Diverse themes such as ‘The scent of love’ as well as alternative uses for the River Thames were displayed and instructional signs for The Museum of Emotions went to the next level (Scream Here). ‘The Unknown’ invented potential pasts and futures for buildings.

All the work was highly interactive in a low-tech way (lots of use of pencils and paper) that is now often replicated in museums around the world. It encouraged visitors to contribute ideas, images and objects, making the visitor to the museum the focal point of the experience.