Aberrant Architecture is pleased to present Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation, a newroom in the British Galleries that has been designed by Aberrant Architecture in collaborationwiththe V&A Design Studio.

Project Statement

The V&A has opened a new room in its popular British Galleries dedicated to exploring notions of Britishness, through the lens of comedy. Opening 29 March 2019, at an extraordinary time in British life, Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation will reflect on the role of humour in debates around identity, empire and power over the past two hundred years. Drawing on the V&A’s world-class collections of art, design and performance, this will be the museum’s first permanent home for its material relating to comedy.

On display will be thirty-four objects and key loans, including new acquisitions of costumes, props, photographs, film and television clips, and interviews with contemporary comedians. Featuring work by comedians including Ronnie Barker and Spike Milligan, and comedic representations of British icons including Queen Victoria and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the V&A will unpick the punchlines to discover what humour since the Victorian era – whether subversive, surreal, mocking or celebratory – can tell us about what it means to be British.

Exhibition Design

Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation will be organised into four thematic sections:

· Country Files

· Cruel Britannia

· Allies and Enemies

· Rule and Regulation

These thematic sections are arranged in four richly variegated wall-mounted displays, arranged in cellular cabinets that extend from each corner of the room. This continuous frieze system, inspired by the Robert Adams bookcase in the V&A British Galleries, familiar tropes of British domesticity such as the alcove, and by 19th century satirist George Cruickshank’s cartoon ‘The British Bee Hive’, provides a holistic container of cells or alcoves, of different sizes, for various display scales and strategies.

BoldColours

A major inspiration for the decoration and treatment for Gallery 55 is the work of celebrated British interior design David Hicks. His work – simultaneous with the late 1960s, and the birth of the alternative comedy scene – suggests a particular blend of traditional values and modern invention, such as the suggestion of Tudor ‘timbers’ as an aesthetic device alongside modern, utilitarian tiles. This idiosyncratic simultaneity of past and present is quintessentially British in its eccentricity. Bold colours and intense patterns produce a contemporary impact while referencing historic styles, particularly from British design and architectural eras.

Within the holistic display each corner unit has its own distinct colour palate which gives each thematic section of the exhibition its own unique identity. Glazed cells within the alcoves mimic antique cases and bureau while patterned and coloured alcoves indicate thematic connections between the objects on display.

A contemporary take on a traditional telephone table, located in the centre of the space, allows visitors to sit and listen to content through old fashioned telephones while appraising the work in each corner of the room.

The Museum Living Room (Room 121)

Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation will further strengthen the offer of the British Galleries – which welcome around a million visitors every year – through the introduction of 20 th and 21st- century objects for the first time. The V&A has also redesigned and reinvigorated the British Galleries Clore Study Area (Room 121) to create a museum living room. Located directly above Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation, this space looks into the room below through Cornelia Parker’s thought-provoking and large-scale Breathless installation. With comfortable seating, toys, games, and plugs for phones and laptops, it will provide a place for visitors to relax and re-charge their batteries.

A variety of different social and working spaces are distributed around Room 121.Each ‘zone’ offers different scales of communality, allowing for varied working practices and social patterns. While in Gallery 55 the arched alcoves act as a vehicle for display, in Room 121 a corner alcove unit becomes a space of inhabitation, allowing individuals, or a couple to sit in a semi-enclosed space. It also features ‘peek a boo’ holes and content that children can discover by opening the doors. Desks at different heights for adults and children occupy another corner. Plugs and USB points are available on the desks to charge laptops and phones while the children’s desk also features a playful mirror.

Another corner is imagined as a flexible space, which can be used as an additional work space or cleared to host impromptu events. The space is defined by a panelled wall which boasts built in LED lights and graphics. A family of tables and chairs, occupying the space in front of the panelled wall can be pushed together to form bigger tables and chairs. Formally the tables and chairs are sculptural ‘positives’ of the negative alcoves within the wall-mounted display cabinets. The final corner features a ‘slope’ and a bleacher which people can occupy in a more informal way. While the ‘slope’, a raised felt bank, is perfect for lounging, the bleachers feature soft furnishings and plug-in points for laptops.

For the design of both Gallery 55 and Room 121 Aberrant Architecture worked with graphic designers, Studio Makgill and lighting designers, DHA design. Sam Brown, 3D Designer at the V&A Design Studio commented; “To deliver this new permanent comedy display and study space within two prominent corners of the V&A’s British Galleries, we combined our in-house exhibition design experience with Aberrant’s playful and rigorous approach. These new spaces create a dramatic, fresh and fun departure from the traditional display techniques employed by the adjoining galleries and showcase a new model for both study and display spaces within the museum.”

Material Used :

1. Painted MDF Cabinets lined with forex & acrylic fronts
2. Furniture made from White Oak Veneer
3. Powder coated metal frame work
4. Forbo desktop applied to desk and stool surfaces
5. Upholstered Seat cushions from Kvadrat
6. Upholstered Suede Ramp
7. Mirror