Adult content is not the first thought that comes to mind about doll houses, but a new show crosses into territory that would give a child nightmares.
Doll House: Miniature Worlds of Wonder opens on Tuesday at Como House and investigates doll houses in horror films – think Sharp Objects, Amityville Dollhouse and The Awakening .
Traditionally a symbol of childhood imagination and innocence, the doll house as a haunted space is the ultimate nightmare. Who could forget Chucky and Annabelle?
Artist Joel Zika’s short film looks at the power of the miniature house as a harbinger of terror in film and television during the past 50 years, featuring clips from Sharp Objects, The Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and Twilight Zone.
Artist Tarryn Handcock has created a Baba Yaga hut – complete with chicken feet – based on the eastern European folklore character who could be both good and evil, as likely to help people as eat them.
As well as creepy elements, Doll House: Miniature Worlds of Wonder also showcases more traditional doll houses, those that are grand symbols of prestige handed down from generation to generation. As well as historic homes dating to the 1880s, there are mid-century houses and contemporary pieces including the Kaleidoscope House, created in 2001 by Laurie Simmons (with furnishings by Cindy Sherman) from different coloured Perspex walls.
The massive growth in digital world-building is also reflected, with a Minecraft landscape that features a virtual Como House that people can download, add to and explore, and a Sims world, by EA Games, where characters go about their everyday lives in imaginary worlds.
Miniature dioramas by installation street artist Liz Sonntag, aka Tinky, are also on display. When first approached to be part of the exhibition, Sonntag wondered if the National Trust knew much about what she did, half-expecting they might want to censor it once they looked closely. Double entendres – or “corny dad jokes” as she describes them – are a big part of her work, tiny life scenes captioned with often risque or suggestive puns.
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