The Tim Burton exhibition in Prague will offer almost 600 of his sketches, puppets or photographs

Commercial presentation Update: 04/30/2024 12:41 p.m
Issued by: 04/30/2024, 12:41 p.m

Prague – Almost 600 sketches, puppets, scenographies or photographs from Tim Burton’s films will be on display at the exhibition in the Municipal House in Prague from May 1 to the end of September. The exhibition maps and presents the more than fifty-year artistic career of the American director, who is known for dreamlike, fantastical, grotesque, and even horror works. Burton’s last exhibition in Prague was the most visited Czech exhibition in 2014, with over 100,000 visitors. The upcoming Prague exhibition is unique especially with the new display of puppets. The organizers presented the exhibition to journalists today.

The characters from Burton’s films are placed in their own worlds, opaque spheres with small windows. The exhibition will also offer works from Burton’s projects after 2014, such as the Addams Family series Wednesday or Dumbo. Tickets for the exhibition are already on sale and their prices vary depending on the day, adults pay 500 crowns on weekends, 450 crowns from Tuesday to Friday and 350 crowns on Mondays.

Visitors to the entrance hall are greeted by a timeline that charts the crucial years for Burton’s work since his birth in 1958. Two long halls then present the director’s work, from his earliest school drawings to his most recent works. In addition to sketches and drawings, sculptures of Burton’s characters are also on display, for example, one hall is dominated by works from the unrealized Pirates series. The second hall is filled with spherical objects in which puppets are displayed. In essence, these are the puppets’ own worlds, into which visitors can peer through small windows in the walls. Animator Jan Bubeníček and architect Martina Kárová devised the unconventional installation of puppets in spheres for the exhibition. The puppets from the Dead Bride, for example, stand on a stone bridge and are illuminated in a cinematic way. “It makes you feel like you’re watching a Tim Burton movie,” said Bubeníček.

The film environment for the puppets was created by Czech animators and artistic craftsmen based on Bubeníček’s sketches. “Burton approved each ball. It had a big process, first we made 3D designs and then each ball went through comments from Tim,” said Kateřina Riley from the production team. She added that the spheres are between one and three meters in size and there are always several peepholes in them, so visitors can view the scene from different angles and sides.

“The exhibit also includes Tim Burton’s first work, Flying Saucer and Aliens, which he created when he was 14. He was in school and his teachers told him he couldn’t be an artist because he couldn’t paint,” said Tim Burton Productions exhibit manager Brandi Pomfret. According to her, he loved the works of Hieronymus Bosch at the time, so Burton’s first work is essentially a variation on Bosch’s work. Pomfret added that Burton sees exhibitions as an extension of his films.

Ten years have passed since the last exhibition of Burton’s works in Prague, according to Riley, the concept of the puppet exhibition is unique, works from new projects are also on display, and some exhibits have also been changed. She added that Burton wants to come to the Prague exhibition, but does not know the date due to his busy schedule.

“I am extremely pleased that since 2008 my team has put together the third exhibition (2008 for New York’s Museum of Modern Art, 2014 for Prague and now again for Prague). Ten years ago I was enchanted by its atmosphere and now I look forward to it just as much, even if it will be in a different place. I fell in love with Prague for its Gothic beauty, weakness for puppets and marionettes, and because of its inhabitants,” Burton said through the organizer.

Tim Burton is an American director who started as an animator for the Disney studio. He very quickly developed a distinctive visual style, a mixture of unbridled imagination and creativity, dark humor and dark poetry. He directed films such as Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Mars Attacks!, Tim Burton’s Dead Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Alice in Wonderland. In recent years, for example, he directed the first four episodes of the series Wednesday. In all his works he draws on the sources of children’s imagination. Burton received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. In 2010, he chaired the Cannes jury.

ČR visual AUDIO Burton PHOTO VERSION 2