The World of Tim Burton: Fantastic, eccentric…and a little commercial?
Written by Avigayil Ashton
Many minds leave vivid, fantastical realms of imagination up to children. The strange, the peculiar and the absurd characters that occupy Tim Burtons are reactions to the mundane, measured lives expected of many adults – particularly in suburban America. The World of Tim Burton at the Design Museum (October 25th2024 – May 26th 2025) brings you through Burton’s process of creation, right from his imaginations birth in the identical, controlled Suburban neighbourhood in which he grew up. The exhibition begins with the echo of a bright, clean neighbourhood in its architecture with Burton’s early sketches haunting the skeletal representations of houses. In an interview with Melvyn Bragg, Burton describes Burbank as “a floaty, kind of semi-oppressive blank palette”, the exhibition illustrates the lengths to which his imagination crawls, retrieving intricately crafted, uncanny characters in such an expansively monotonous environment. The World of Tim Burton is an unearthly trip into a gothic realm – overall, it’s an immersive experience of creative excellence. However, towards the end of the brilliant chaos of Burton’s displays in the exhibition, it perhaps leaves the impression of being too commercial and feels disjointed.
The exhibition is the latest of a series that The Design Museum is hosting on its tour around Prague, Osaka, São Paulo and Seoul, expanded and adapted to be reframed through the lens of design. Burton’s work expands beyond extensions of early childhood art into just sketches, such as his notable directive work in films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Corpse Bride (2005) and Alice in Wonderland (2010), to name a few. Beyond early childhood the exhibition allows us to explore Burton’s early works with models from the Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which are surrounded by preliminary sketches, his early collage short films looming over the exhibits. Building the perfect liminal space to to step foot into Burton’s expansive world of gothic design are the cacophony of sound, ambient lighting and the frenzy of sketches and models.
Moving further inside the exhibition, we get to explore Burton’s design in the world of live action through further sketches, costume and set design. He articulates his choices of colour, fabric and funky yet disconcerting sets with their dramatic inhabitants. For instance, Beetlejuice’s Sandworm and Catwoman’s suit are somewhat static, exhibited to be laying in their coffin of disuse as a stark comparison to their onscreen dynamic presence. At an earlier stage in the exhibition, it excels at highlighting Burtons fervent creative hunger – the space is crammed with sketches, workspaces, materials and brainstorms, overflowing with Burton’s ideas. In another section, the dynamism of Burton’s eccentric atmosphere looms larger than ever as you walk through a disorienting corridor constructed through a series of optical illusions as Burton’s creatures leer at you from each side.
The sombre, compellingly haunting atmosphere of Burton’s worlds and the tortured, sensitive creatures occupying them are represented through the comforting purple and red tones, peculiar models and atypical design of each section. The exhibition ends with the feverish colours and bright lights of Burton’s carousels and the lurid designs of his Hansel and Gretel (1983). The 300 audio samples designed by composer Tomi Rose create a beautifully unearthly soundscape responding to the themes in each room and draws you into the intense world of Burton with its chilling beauty.
This next section of the exhibition felt sterilised by comparison, feeling oddly static with its minimal presentation. The beauty seems to be disrupted as the jarring reality of commercialisation slaps you into reality whilst exiting through the crowded, cramped gift shop with its white walls and expensive merchandise. Whilst I cannot critique the arts and their supporting institutions finding a way to fund themselves, the confined layout and extortionate prices were a disservice to the exhibition, ending the immersive world of Tim Burton with noisy, cramped and sterilised capitalism. The atmosphere of a frantically creative individual whose worlds transcended the ordinary, drab world of America’s suburban neighbourhoods and capitalistic society was disrupted too harshly with this emersion back into reality.
Nevertheless, this exhibition inspires the creative spirit. It encourages us to enter into the immersive worlds of design and is interested in the beauty of humanising the unconventional. Whether you are a fan of Tim Burton’s eerie worlds, or even a teacher looking to plan a school trip to inspire creative hunger amongst the next generation, this is well worth the visit.
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