THE WORLD OF TIM BURTON
The Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin presents THE WORLD OF TIM BURTON, the exhibition dedicated to the creative genius of Tim Burton and curated by Jenny He in collaboration with Tim Burton Productions. For the first time in Italy, the exhibition will be on view at the Mole Antonelliana from October 11, 2023 to April 7, 2024.
It is a journey into the visionary universe and creativity of Tim Burton, and the main core of the exhibition focuses on the director's personal archive, showing an incredible variety of his creative output. Not only precious documents but also drawings and sketches with the recurring themes and visual motifs from which his characters that characterize his distinctive cinematic worlds came to life.
Tim Burton will be also the protagonist of a stunning Masterclass and he will receive the Stella della Mole award as a recognition of his visionary and innovative contribution with his inimitable style to the history of cinema.
"Once again our Museum pay a tribute to a great artist of international renown," says Enzo Ghigo, president of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema. With his great creativity and mastery, he has created universal films, appreciated by everyone. For more than 30 years he fascinated us with his stories, from Beetlejuice and Batman to the recent great success of Wednesday, the second most-watched English-language Netflix series ever”
"Having Tim Burton to Turin is a dream come true - says Domenico De Gaetano, director of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema. The fantastic imagery of his films has accompanied our lives, from children to adults, and it will be wonderful to see how Tim Burton's colorful and whimsical world will fit into the magical space of the Mole Antonelliana. The exhibition has been hosted in other countries in conventional exhibition spaces, and I'm sure the National Museum of Cinema will be transformed to bring together architectural madness and creative genius, as well as fit into our institution's strategic internationalization project."
This major immersive exhibit is an exclusive journey of sorts into the mind of a creative powerhouse, the ultimate exploration of Tim Burton’s artistic output, inimitable style and specific perspective. Split into 10 thematic sections, it features over 500 examples of rarely or never-before-seen original artworks from his early ages through to the most recent projects across mediums of sketches, paintings, drawings, photographs, concept art, storyboards, costumes, moving-image works, maquettes, puppets and life-sized sculptural installations. An evocative setting will lead visitors and fans to dive into the extraordinary universe of Tim Burton, experiencing an in-depth look further into his sensibility and taking pictures with the figure of Balloon Boy, while new audiences will have the chance to explore the exact replica of the artist’s personal studio along with a special sneak peek of current or unrealized projects.
The exhibit traces the footsteps of director and the current of his singular visual imagination as a multidimensional postmodern artist in somewhat of an autobiography told through his unbounded creative process. Through the one-of-a-kind presentation of Tim Burton’s oeuvre, his unique vision transcends mediums and formats, making it crystal clear how ideas, themes and even some specific images from his art wound up in the most iconic movies that we now associate with lavish cinematic spectacle.
Long before critical and commercial success in the live-action and animation genres, Burton was inspired by the movies on television, animations, comics in the newspapers, myths and fables told in school, and other forms of popular culture, incorporating these lifelong influences into his art and signature films. His childhood sketches demonstrate Burton’s range and call to mind the work of his predecessors, including classic cartoonists and illustrators such as Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, Don Martin and Theodore Geisel. The impact of Japanese monster movies, Expressionist Cinema, Universal Studios’ horror catalog and suspense maestros William Castle and Vincent Price also permeate his work.
TIM BURTON
Timothy Walter Burton (1958) grew up in Burbank, California, a homogenous suburban American neighborhood that compelled him to find respite and escape from its blandness. Widely known as one of the most imaginative artists and as a filmmaker capable of realizing the most fantastic visual effects, he has reinvented Hollywood genre filmmaking as an expression of personal vision, garnering for himself an international audience of fans and influencing a generation of young artists working in film, video, and graphics. Burton studied at CalArts to become a pioneer in a dreamy, grotesque, and beautiful cinematic genre that never existed before. His iconic filmography of the last three decades includes Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dumbo (2019) and Wednesday, the second most watched English-language Netflix series. He created a style of art called “Burtonesque”, and although widely known as a filmmaker, Tim Burton is also a distinguished artist, talented in various artistic areas including fine art, photography and sculpture, working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism.