Commercial presentation Update: 1/05/2024 00:34
Issued by: 1/05/2024, 00:30
Prague – Approximately 17,000 tickets have been sold in advance for the Prague exhibition of director Tim Burton, which opens today at 10:00 a.m. in the Municipal House. The exhibition, which will offer visitors almost 600 sketches, puppets, sets or photographs from Burton’s films, costs the organizers approximately 30 million crowns. Kateřina Riley from the organizing agency Art Movement said this to ČTK in an interview. Burton, who is known for his dreamy, fantastical, grotesque and even horror works, returns to Prague after ten years. His last exhibition in Prague was the most visited Czech exhibition of 2014, over 102,000 people visited it. The organizers believe that this year’s exhibition will surpass this number.
“We currently have approximately 17,000 tickets sold. We ourselves are surprised at how much interest there is. It is true that we tried to support sales with marketing events, because we were left without sponsors. We had to pay the costs ourselves, which are quite high, whether already with loans, or just income from pre-sales,” said Riley. She added that the costs for this exhibition are around 30 million crowns. “We have a fixed part that has to be paid for, such as exhibition rights, shipping, insurance, installation, production, and more,” she said.
According to Riley, the cost of the new exhibition has also increased significantly due to the special exhibition of the director’s puppets. These are not displayed separately in showcases, but the creators of the exhibition have devised spherical objects for them with windows on the walls. The spheres thus function as their own puppet worlds. In them, the puppets are surrounded by their own film environment, the characters from Tim Burton’s 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 film,” said animator Jan Bubeníček, who devised the unconventional installation of puppets together with architect Martina Kárová. Czech animators and artistic craftsmen took care of the actual realization based on Bubeníček’s sketches from Burton’s films. “Burton approved every ball. It was a big process, first we did 3D designs and then each ball went through comments from Tim,” said Riley.
Entrance fees to the exhibition vary according to the usual interest. According to Riley, Saturdays and Sundays are traditionally the most visited, which is why entrance fees are more expensive on weekend days. Adults get a ticket for 500 crowns on the weekend, 450 crowns from Tuesday to Friday. Students and seniors have a 50-crown cheaper entrance fee, and a child under the age of 12 is 100 to 150 crowns cheaper. The ticket for Monday is for everyone at a single price of 350 crowns. Family tickets for three or four people are also available.
Burton exhibited in Prague ten years ago, and the exhibition Tim Burton and his world was viewed by over 102,000 visitors at the House U Kamenného zvon. Riley believes this year’s show will surpass that number. According to Riley, the new exhibition is unique precisely because of the concept of the puppet exhibition, some exhibits are changed and works from new projects are also on display, such as the Wednesday series from the Addams family or Dumbo.
ČR visual AUDIO Burton PHOTO VERSION 2
